Jack Ninaber

Spiritual Breakthrough - The Power of Listening Prayer

2012-01-31T15:22:00.000-05:00

http://vimeo.com/20741551 Check out this link on the subject of listening prayer

As most of us know, talking to God is one thing but listening is something entirely different. It has been noted that “in Western culture listening has never been a prized pursuit, the way, for example, teaching or preaching has been." There will likely never be any awards handed out for the “The Greatest Listener.” However, one of the most important qualities that we need more in our relationships is the ability to not just to hear, but to listen - a fundamental human need!

However, the challenge of this is that someone has to stop and listen!

We have become so accustomed to the noise in our lives that we’ve learned to accept it and in doing so we have hampered our ability to hear His voice.

You may be sitting here and you have that ache, that longing for God’s presence, but I want you to know even more than you want it; He wants you to know HIM!

Can you say that you have heard God’s voice?

Was it audible, an impression on your mind, a divine nudge?

I believe that God wants to have a real two-way relationship with each and every one of His children.

Many godly people through history spoke of God’s personal communication to them. Jesus, in his revelation to John said, “Let him who has ears hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches.” Brother Lawrence talked about, “a continual conversation with God.” A W Tozer stated, ‘God is speaking, and doing so in every facet of the human experience’. Bill Bright called it, “Spiritual Breathing.” In a recent book, Bill Hybels calls this listening to the, “Whispers of God.” Charles Stanley in his book, “Hearing from God refers to, “Impressions upon my spirit or mind.” Watchman Nee writes about, “The light of God’s revelation.”

A.W. Tozer said this: “The Bible will never become a living Book to us until we are convinced that God is articulate in His universe. To jump from a dead, impersonal world to a dogmatic Bible is too much for most people.” Such a person “is the victim of a divided psychology. He tries to think of God as mute everywhere else and vocal only in a book.”

Our ability to hear God is not only conditioned by our culture but also by our view of God’s nature. For example, do we believe that God speaks in the present, or do we believe that God’s voice is solely bound to the past between the covers of our Bible? The answer to this question may provide an important starting point in discerning how we seek to listen to God.

We are going to look at three different layers to listening to God’s voice as they come to us through non-verbal communication, the Written Word and His spoken voice and we will start with the posture that leads us in all three areas of listening to His voice.

A Posture for listening…

1 Samuel 3:1 The boy Samuel ministered before the LORD under Eli. In those days the word of the LORD was rare; there were not many visions.

I believe today that is changing as we move closer and closer to His return. I have heard more people share about visions of Jesus in fulfillment of the prophecy in Joel 2. We have heard more and more people from other world religions testifying to hearing God’s voice.

10 The LORD came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!”

Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

The posture for listening is the expectation that God wants to speak!

David expected God to speak to him when he asked in Psalm 139 – search me and try me and see if there be any wicked way?

The expectation to sense God’s voice comes as we are bold enough to ask the question.

If we are too busy to ask, chances are we are not going to hear with the clarity that He wants to bring in our lives’

So, I challenge you…ask the question!

God is there someone here that you want me to speak to? God, what do you want me to say to that person?

God is there something that You want me to know?

Layers of Listening

1. Non-verbal communication

Scripture is pretty clear on portraying a God who longs to communicate with us. In Psalm 29, we see that the whole world is filled with God’s voice and that He speaks to us through His creation. The gospel of John puts it this way, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. It is God’s nature to speak.

In Psalm 32:8,9 it says, “The Lord says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you. Do not be like a senseless horse or mule that needs a bit and bridle to keep it under control.”

What do you have to do with a horse to steer it in the right direction. It takes a gentle tug on the reign unless the horse is unruly and senseless. I call those God ordained wake up calls when He really has to buckle down on us.

And in these verses, God is saying, “I want to guide you along the best pathway for your life.

Non-verbal communication speaks to how God works in our lives through divine nudges, promptings of His Holy Spirit, the peace of God that rules in our heart

So, how do we test those divine nudges, visions, dreams or when God speaks to us through nature?

It takes us to our next layer of communication and that is

2. Written Communication

The Word of God

God wrote a book. It’s a best seller. And the place to start when you need to know the direction God wants you to go in life is to pick it up and get to know him.

After all, if you want to know what somebody really thinks about something, what you really want to check out is what they have written on the subject. The apostle Paul says, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16,17

The Lord spoke in the Bible and he revealed his will there for all time. When I was in Bible College and Seminary, I am very grateful for the professors who taught me the importance of doing careful Bible study with good principles of interpretation as we have done with our recent course on How To Read The Bible For All Its Worth.

We need to remember that God does not change his character. He does not speak right NOW in a way that is out of keeping with the way he spoke back THEN.

God is not going to tell you something that contradicts His Word.

God does not change. Hebrews 3:13 says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”

Do you know the Scriptures? Do you read them? Have you read the Bible through? Getting to know God and hear his voice means that you become familiar with the book that he wrote.

Now, some people will say that all we need is the Bible. At one point, I would say that I was pretty satisfied with non-verbal and written communication. And I have heard some people basically say, “God only spoke back in Bible times. And since God does not change… I don’t need to hear his voice today.”

Now, if you think about that… just on a logical basis… it can’t be true. If God revealed himself to people in the Bible who then wrote down what God revealed… and if God does not change… then we would expect that God would continue to be a God who reveals himself to people today. Right? I mean, the only way God would NOT reveal himself today is if he has changed. And if God has changed… then what confidence do we have that the Bible still reveals God?

1. God revealed himself in the past as a God who personally speaks to people.

2. God does not change. Hebrews 3:13 says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” And so our CONCLUSION is…

3. God must still personally speak to people.

Now, you might be wondering, “How did I know that I was hearing the Lord’s voice and not the voice of – say – the enemy?” Well, by this time... I knew the written communication quite well. I knew that there is now NO condemnation for those who are in Christ. So if I felt just a general feeling of guilt and condemnation… I could be confident that was NOT the Lord speaking. But if I felt convicted yet loved… if only one sin was mentioned at a time…then I would confess them one at a time and receive joy.

With thanks to Steve Kerr

3. Spoken Communication

God speaks. When I say “spoken communication” I am not talking about audible speaking. I have never heard God’s voice with my ears. I know people who have and I don’t have a problem with that. But in my experience, the Lord does not speak audibly to me. He speaks directly to my mind and heart. And it’s not a voice I hear in my head. He brings thoughts to my mind and – over time – I have developed a sense in my spirit that they are his thoughts. They ‘light’ up on my mind as spontaneous thoughts as best described by Mark Virkler. The first response I find myself in is to prayer

I have challenged us in the past about four keys to hearing God’s voice in an even more intimate way than I was hearing…

1. Withdraw and Wait: Be still and know that I am God” the Bible says. Jesus tells us to go into our private closet and pray. Psalm 46:10

2. Watch: Fix the eyes of our heart and mind on Christ. Get a vision of Christ in your mind. Hebrews 12:2 We learn to picture ourselves in His presence.

3. Be Willing. Let the Lord speak. Like Samuel, say “Lord, speak for your servant is willing to listen and obey.” John 10 – We have to ask the questions

4. Write. In my case, I started journaling in a notebook and today I have a little notebook computer in the corner of our living room where I do my Bible reading and I write out my prayers. Habbakuk 2

These thoughts come from a name that He has laid on our heart to actual words and affirmations that He has for us. There have been a group of 12 of us who have been learning to hear God’s voice and they have given me permission to share how they are discovering His voice!

Remember when I was asleep in the boat during the storm? I knew that the storm was coming yet i slept. You remember the power of a storm when you're sailing on a lake!

Remember, My power is greater - then you will rest & not fear during the storms in your life. Even when you don't feel Me remember this: I love you. I care for you. I have the power in all situations. Even when life doesn't make sense TRUST Me! Know My Father's love toward you. Things don't always seem reasonable from your perspective. When I stood on the shore & told professional fishermen where to put their nets, they didn't get all proud & say 'we know what we're doing .

You're only a carpenter' . They listened & obeyed. This is what I want you to do. Keep your inner eyes on Me, trusting My love, wisdom & power. Trust & obey ME - not your own logic. Pas every thought & plan by Me. Let Me fill the center of your being, displacing the worry you so often indulge in. I have said ' when you week Me you will find Me & find rest for your soul.

My response was (if you need it) Thank you Lord that You told the stories of real events when You were on earth. Thank You for Your Holy Spirit that uses these to teach me. Abba, help me .

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I used to say I so wanted to hear God's big booming voice over all the clutter and distractions "Diane, this is my way, walk in it". As I progressed on my faith journey with My Lord, I learned I needed to draw near and make choices.... For me I am deeply impacted by music and lyrics- the words....I choose to have Christian music on in my car, at home, everywhere possible because God speaks to me through them or a message. I choose to read and study the bible because God speaks to me through these.....I have learned ... If I am hearing something for the third time....God is saying is this loud enough!!!!!

As I pray through the day I know He is with me, that He becomes clear as I disappear, that I will praise Him in this storm, that healing comes through the tears....

As our small group has worked on journeling...this one area I'm not real good at.....first, I think in point form....and in one of our first journeling times....God is so cool!....he spoke to my mind...in point form!

I admire those in our group who have such wonderful words and paragraphs woven together I love to hear them share....I also love that God made me just the way I am and he gives me just what I need...just enough light or words for the step I'm on. I just need to be intentional to be still myself and be willing to ask God, and be willing to be quiet and willing to listen.

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I'm going to talk about my question "How do You see me?"...God showed me a a mirror which was prefect and whole.. That's how He sees me.(my reflection was perfect) He sees me for what I am. But when I see the mirror it's dirty and cracked. That's normal to me (Out of shaped, hazy, and a little distorted). As I go through life I look at the mirror and see my life - some are good days and some days they are bad.

God wants me to remind myself that I am perfect in His eyes. And that's what matters. I know what the mirror can represent and I will strive towards that. One day We can both stand in front of this mirror and see each other for who we really are.

1 Corinthians 13:12

The Message (MSG)

12We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!

The Takeaway

Prayer was always meant to be a two-way conversation! He speaks and I obey.

The power of listening to the voice of God comes as He calls me to become the person I was created to be and I change to become just that!

We’re not asking for times and dates…this is not a glass ball. We are simply just giving God the floor! We are affirming that He has the freedom to speak in our lives.

Spiritual Breakthrough - Spiritual Warfare In Prayer

2012-01-31T14:41:00.000-05:00

If you are a Christian, do you remember when you became one? Did anyone ever tell you that you are now going to be tempted and tested by the enemy? Do you remember when you were baptized? Do you go through a period of testing and temptation following that?

When you came to faith in Jesus, your heart became a battlefield. You are loved by God, but you are also hated by the enemy.

Do not be mistaken. The moment you declared your allegiance to Jesus Christ, you became an enemy of the prince of the power of the air. It is his goal to neutralize you in the battle for the heart and lives of people. He would love nothing more than to place believing Christians into a deep spiritual slumber where they are neither productive nor fruitful for the kingdom of God. Today, it is my prayer that we will become more aware of the battle all around us, praying fervently, as our spiritual eyes are opened. In doing so I believe our faith will become active and we will become freedom fighters for the King of Kings!

The Old Hymn – Charles Wesley – A Mighty Fortress Is Our God

For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and power are great, and, armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.

Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing;
Were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God’s own choosing:
Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He;
Lord Sabaoth, His name, from age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.

Don’t underestimate the devil, but at the same time know this too that he is not the equal of God. He can’t be everywhere, he doesn’t know everything and he’s not all powerful. He can do nothing in the life of the Christian without the permission of God.

We learn these lessons from the life of Job

We also need to know the truth that God will not test us beyond what we are able.

Yes, there are distractions and temptations that the enemy puts in our pathway but this goes beyond the situations where we walk right into temptation by our own decision.

It is like a young man who said, “I’m always tempted to have sex with my girlfriend.” What did you do last night? “Well, we were lying together in the dark.” Question. Did you see the door?

It is like the person who prayed, “Lead me not into temptation…I can find it myself.” So, we pray and ask God for some surge of power and God says run, get out of that place – there’s the door.

God will not test us beyond what we are able, but provide a way of escape – it’s called the door! A case in point is Joseph and how he dealt with Potiphar’s wife – he got the heck out of there!

No, this is something very different and we are talking about battling in prayer!

John White states

You have established a new relationship with the powers of darkness. Whatever you were before you were a Christian... you are now a sworn foe of the legions of hell. Have no delusions about their reality or their hostility, but do not fear them. The God inside you terrifies them. They cannot hurt you, let alone hurt you, but they can still seduce, and they will try. They will also oppose you as you obey Christ. ... you are serious about Christ being your Lord and God, you can expect opposition.

Have you ever thought about the fact that we have the ability to see on three different levels?

1) On the physical level, we observe with the naked eye the world around us;

2) On the mental level we see things with our mind's eye, like redecorating a room, or putting together a computer program,

3) On the spiritual level we comprehend, are enlightened, through the eyes of the Spirit of God

I want to look at a specific prayer in the life of Elisha. Elisha was a prophet of the northern kingdom of Israel who followed in Elijah’s footsteps. He was active from 850 – 800 BC and very involved in the life of the nation.

In this particular story he is an enemy of the King of Aram

2 Kings 6:8-23

I want to look at prayer as we are faced with seeing on 3 levels

1. The Physical – An army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city.

Recognizing what we are up against is a strong call to prayer

As we can see here the King of Syria was making war against Israel. He thought there must be an informer in his ranks because each time he made a move the Israelites were already there. Finally he learned it was the prophet Elisha who was warning the King of Israel. So he sent a great army to Dothan during the night to get Elisha. The army with their horses and chariots surrounded the city. In the morning Elisha's servant saw the army, ran to Elisha and said, "Oh my lord, what shall we do?" Imagine the picture with me. Here is this servant pacing, fretting, overwhelmed at the thoughts of how they were going to die and then Elijah’s words!

From a purely human perspective, it really was a ‘lights out’ situation. There was no humanly way possible that they could escape from the hands of the Arameans.

2. The Mental - Those who are with us are more than those who are with them

We need to see with our mind’s eye. There is a clear mindset that we are to take with us into prayer

The servant was like so many of us. Fear prevented him from seeing the bigger picture. Elisha has a bold confidence in God and speaks His faith by sharing with His servant.

"Don't be afraid. Those who are with us are more than those who are with them." The mental scene here I realize is brief, but its powerful. The picture that the servant needed to see was a very real army and presence of God that had completely surrounded them.

3. The Spiritual – And Elisha prayed, “O Lord, open his eyes so he may see.”

Elisha prayed a simple, specific prayer and his servant's eyes were opened.

Prayer can be a real eye opener. Without it, our ability to see past our circumstances is hindered and we end up worrying and wringing our hands. We lose heart and may even become spiritual cripples. Prayer gives us a faith focus. Hebrews 11:1 shares a beautiful description of faith: "Now faith is the assurance (substance) of things hoped for, the conviction (or evidence) of things not seen." Open our eyes, Lord!

As amazing as this scene would be for Elisha’s servant; I find Elisha’s next prayer even more fascinating! What is Elisha’s prayer to the LORD? Strike these people with blindness! What kind of a prayer request is that?! I think most of us might have prayed…OK, LORD, put those chariots of fire into motion and take out my enemies.

Often, in times of prayer, we may believe we already have the answer and we just need the Lord to act. However, this passage shows an unusual series of events where Elisha leads a blinded army straight into the presence of the king of his nation.

This is when we need to have our eyes opened by the Lord to see what He wants done in the very circumstance that we find ourselves. So, the prayer needs to become THIS!

Lord what is it that you want me to know and how do You want me to respond to this situation?

Ephesians 6:10:18

1. The Physical – Our struggle is not against flesh and blood

For our fight is not against any physical enemy: it is against organisations and powers that are spiritual. We are up against the unseen power that controls this dark world, and spiritual agents from the very headquarters of evil. J.B. Phillips translation

They want to hinder and stop the work of God

Jesus is not into a timeshare program with your heart!

Remember these promises – Submit to God, resist the devil and He will flee!

Greater is He that is in you, than He is in the world!

The enemy wants to do whatever he can to come between us and God and in

Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might - Strengthen yourself in the Lord!

In your own strength, you are no match for the devil. Don’t do this alone.

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.

Romans 8:26,27

Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Romans 8:34

We rest in the finished work of Jesus Christ.

2. The Mental – Put on the full armor of God

One of the subtle ways that he attacks us is by keeping us so busy or so distracted that we don’t spend time in God’s presence. He wants to keep you from the great and precious promises of God’s Word.

We don’t fight for victory, we fight from victory! We have already been told that we are more than conquerors.

Yes, we won’t necessarily win every skirmish, but we will win the war. Yes, we will still struggle with sin, but it should never own us.

I don’t have the time to do justice to these verses.

Belt of truth – don’t think of this as a fashion belt. It is more like a utility belt that a police officer would wear to carry his weapons

As a Roman soldier… the sheath for the sword attached the belt, the breastplate – attached to the belt

A life and a mind that is pulled together for the glory of God. If I’m saying that I’m a Christian and I’m not living in reality of it….than nothing else matters.

Breastplate – protected the vital organs…the kill zone. We are talking about the imputed righteousness of Christ…His righteousness put into my spiritual bank account. I’m accepted by God not because of what I’ve done, but because of what He’s done!

Gospel footwear – the right shoes! The Romans wore interesting shoes….When they went into battle. it was gripping so they could hold their ground – spikes in the bottom; it was tough to withstand a blow and it was light so they could run!

What do these shoes speak to - We need to keep on when others are quitting, to keep our footing, when others are slipping, we need to be able to move when others are weighed down.

How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!

The church gains ground through gospel proclamation…when was the last time you prayed for your 3 friends who you are trusting Jesus for?

Shield of faith – above all…of great importance – to quench the flaming arrows of the enemy. – Sometimes they are just like wicked thoughts and you say,”Where did that come from?’…I’ll tell you where…from hell…thoughts of lust, blasphemy, doubt.

The just shall live by faith

The helmet of salvation – protects the mind…guard your mind from those impure thoughts.

Take every thought captive in Christ Jesus.

The gateway for the enemy into our lives in through our minds. It is for this very reason that we have to put on the helmet of salvation.

The sword of the Spirit – the offensive piece of armor.

The devil doesn’t want you to read your Bible…

You can read all the news on your computer, newspaper…dead quiet…the moment you open your Bible… kids start screaming, dog starts whining, and a 747 flies over your backyard…It also seems to be the time that 101 thoughts enter your mind…I forgot to get milk, the dishes need to get done, I have to pay that bill or I’m going to get a late charge, I forgot to call that person.

One practical solution is to have a separate piece of paper to write that thought down and tell yourself, I will deal with that later.

These are not necessarily evil things, just distractions… and the enemy doesn’t want you to unsheathe that sword.

Keep that thing away….He doesn’t want you to use it and would rather see it become dull from disobedience

3. The Spiritual – Pray in the Spirit

Some who suffer loss, experience illness or some other tragedy may feel that God has abandoned them. To be honest, many life experiences cause us to wonder. We see: crime in our streets, brokenness and abuse in homes; sickness that takes the lives of far too many far too soon; wars that never end; a society that seems to be going downhill. There was news this week of selective abortions prompting the call for ultrasound rules in the Canadian Medical Journal.

Where is God in all this? What is God doing among us? These are honest questions which most of us have asked at one time or another. Some of you sitting here today may be asking those very questions. There is a bigger picture and that is why more than ever that we need to pray in the Spirit. When we pray in the Spirit, we pray asking for His enabling, His wisdom and understanding and His empowerment.

The Takeaway

May God open our eyes this very morning to see that "the God who is with us, is more than all those who are against us...," greater that our fears, greater than our circumstances or losses. It is even greater than our understanding of what should happen in any given circumstance!

And Elisha prayed,

“O LORD, open his eyes so he may see.” Then the LORD opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

1. What is God showing you on a PHYSICAL level…these are cold, hard, facts. What are you up against? What have the doctors told you? What have your peers told you? What have your parents told you?

2. What is God showing you on a MENTAL level in your mind’s eye? Do you learn to picture what you are trusting God for in your prayers? Can you envision where God wants to work.

3. What is the Spirit of God showing you with the eyes of your heart? Ask HIM, God what do you want me to see? Give me a vision, a dream of what you have in store for me, for this church, for my brother or sister.

Seeing the temporal for eternal 2 Corinthians 4:17 – fix your eyes on what is unseen!

This week, pray this simple prayer. God, open my eyes to see the things you want me to see. God, open my ears to hear the things that you want me to hear.

Spiritual Breakthrough Through The Power of Believing Prayer!

2012-01-04T16:03:00.002-05:00

Spiritual Breakthrough The Power of Believing Prayer

What are the questions that you have about prayer? What are some of the things that you want to understand about prayer? We want to explore why is prayer so vital to the life of the church and to the power of real spiritual breakthrough in us and through us as a body.

“If…your soul cries out to God, for the living God, and your dry and empty heart despairs of living a normal Christian life…then I ask you: Is your desire all absorbing? Is it the biggest thing in your life?…If your heart cries “Yes” to the questions you may be on your way to spiritual breakthrough that will transform your whole life.”

- A.W. Tozer, in Keys to the Deeper Life

It all starts with a holy discontent for the status quo in our lives and the realization that God has so much more for us.

We will start with a brief introduction on the ACTS of prayer which is a helpful teaching on leading us into the spiritual formation of our hearts.

Adoration

When we focus our attention on the One who can meet our needs, it takes our eyes off circumstances, our wants, our needs and places them squarely on where they need to be: His Kingdom, His presence, His will, His desires, His focus!

Matthew 6:31-33 tells us not to worry about what the world chases after. We only have to look at what consumes our Canadian culture the day after Christmas, a day of gift exchange to Boxing Day…more lines, more deals on things that we most likely don’t even need. However, that is what will get people up early in the morning, the constant chase for the latest and greatest gadget.

I have to admit that the lines catch my attention. I saw one for Coach in the Niagara Falls outlet last week and I’m thinking to myself, ‘hey, maybe some free stuff!’ Sorry, no luck there.

So, what does this have to do with adoration? Well, the worship of God in His presence reorients me to what is of absolute importance and what is of lasting value. It is His glorious presence that fills my heart and life and the realization that He loves me so much that He sent His Son to be the sacrifice for my sins so I could enter the fullness of a relationship with Him.

Psalm 18:1,2

David adores God in three ways: First, he tells God that he loves Him. Second, he praises God for who God is. Third, he praises God for what God does.

Hebrews 4:14-16 is a reminder of where we are and who is in the throne room!

Confession

Disobedience and neglect of God is like an awful virus slowly that creeps into our lives. I am realizing more and more how much I need to spend time in self-examination as a sort of scan of the soul. I need God’s presence every day to shed light on me.

Psalm 66:18; Psalm 139:23,24; 2 Chronicles 7:14; 1 Corinthians 11:23-32

Thanksgiving

Ephesians 1:3-10

A heart of thankfulness begins with recognizing all the spiritual blessings we have in Christ and is the natural flow from confession because of the realization of our complete and total forgiveness as we see in 1 John 1:9.

Supplication

The word history of supplication, it refers to a bending down and indicates a bowing or kneeling in submission. 1 Kings 8:34 states, "And it was so, that when Solomon had made an end of praying all this prayer and supplication unto the LORD, he arose from before the altar of the LORD, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread up to heaven." By extension of this picture, to supplicate is to ask for humbly and earnestly. It refers most to the attitude of our prayer.

We see prayer times in connection with crying out to God in the following verses: 1 Kings 8:28; 2 Chronicles 6:19; Psalm 28:2; 30:8; 31:22

Supplication, therefore, is the attitude or spirit of prayer. We bend down to God and cry out to Him for an answer. We submit to His will and to His authority. We earnestly seek His help. In this way, we make supplication to God in our prayers. In doing so we follow the example of Jesus who "offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears" Hebrews 5:7

John 10:14-16 Supplication for me begins with learning to hear the voice of the Lord. I can start with my own ‘grocery list’ of requests or I can start by asking God who is it that Lord you want to lay on my heart? Who do I need to do battle for today? Who needs me to fight for them in my prayers. Ephesians 6 talks about prayer as part of the armour of the believer. It is the place where we need to go together with the Word of God as our sword to cut through the lies of the enemy who comes to steal, kill and destroy life in us and the lives around us.

Ephesians 6:18 also tells us to pray in the Spirit.

The best brief statement I have found of what it means to pray in the Holy Spirit goes like this: It means “so to pray that the Holy Spirit is the moving and guiding power.” The key words there are “moving” and “guiding.” In other words, when you pray in the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God is “moving” you to pray. That is, he is the one who motivates and enables and energizes your prayer. And when you pray in the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God is “guiding” how you pray and what you pray for. So, to pray in the Holy Spirit is to be moved and guided by the Holy Spirit in prayer. We pray by his power and according to his direction.

Absolute Salvation!

2011-12-06T17:02:00.001-05:00

Have you ever been in a situation where you needed to “be saved” from something? What happened? How did you feel needing to be saved? How did you feel having been saved?

I’ll never forget the day I almost drowned. My brother and I were out in a pond in a canoe near Thunder Bay, ON. I was 10 years old at the time and our family was visiting friends and I was wearing corduroy pants, sweatshirts and rubber boots that went up to my knees! No lifejackets of course…it was the ‘70s when station wagons had rear facing seats. Safety certainly wasn’t #1. Anyways, it didn’t take too long for my brother Edwin to start rocking the canoe and over we went. I didn’t know how to swim and the water was filling my boots like an anchor and I was going down. Then out of nowhere, the father of the home came running to the pond, stripped down to his briefs, dived in and rescued me. He was my saviour that day.

Salvation is not just a dry weary religious word; it’s a wonderful word of freedom, peace and wholeness. This is the good news of Christmas to a weary, embattled, stressed out world. So, what is salvation? Salvation means deliverance from danger and death. However must people in our western world aren’t too worried about being saved from danger and death on a day to day basis and so the conversation goes…’have you been saved’ and the response, ‘ I didn’t know I was drowning…’

However the sad reality is that many people are drowning around us in silence. One only needs to look at the recent incidents of suicide in Ontario and Quebec that have led to greater legislation and anti-bullying laws in our schools. There are children and youth and they do need to be saved.

We either have the good news or we don’t. We either have the message of hope and salvation or we don’t.

There is a message of salvation getting out there and they are using our terms.

Lady Gaga is offering a message of redemption to her fans. She tells them to let go of their insecurities about self identity and tells her audience to free themselves. “I want you to reject anyone or anything that ever made you feel that you don’t belong” She refers to her followers as ‘little monsters’ and in return she is called ‘mother monster’ She sings ‘Born This Way’ and the message, ‘love yourself at all costs,’ through countless images of eroticism. She promotes death as a spectacle and uses a ‘messiah complex’ to draw attention to herself. She recently wrote a song titled Judas expressing her ongoing love for Jesus betrayer.

Here’s the thing -

Christianity is a religion of rescue. It is designed for the desperate. It is for people who have a craving for something more than they can eke out of life by themselves. Walter Henrichsen

It is not a message of self- love. It is about loving someone who really did die for you. He will not be silenced and his love is too broad to be concealed. It was a real cross with real nails and it was in real time. He died a physical death for actual sin resulting in genuine salvation. He is the Saviour of the world and His Name is Jesus.

So, what is our message of salvation?

However, as we will see today, salvation is so much more than ‘fire insurance’ as some people equate the decision to putting our faith in Jesus Christ to.

Salvation in Jesus is experienced through forgiveness of the penalty of sin.

Luke 7:36-50 – Jesus accepts a dinner invitation from one of the religious leaders in the community and a woman arrives on the scene who is creating quite a scene in the family home. The people living there are hoping that Jesus will deal with the ‘situation’ because it is feeling really awkward in here. They think to themselves, ‘why is he letting this happen... doesn’t he know that we are all feeling really uncomfortable with this sinner…most likely a prostitute in our midst.’

It was an extravagant display of love.

Here’s the problem, many who have grown up in the church, myself included, can all too easily forgot just how precious our forgiveness really is. I’m a good human being…there isn’t much to forgive here.

The sin of self righteousness was even more hideous to God than the blatant outright sinners who knew just who they were because it isn’t as obvious, but it goes right to the core of who we think we are.

Then that type of thinking leads us to looking at our neighbours and say the same thing and saying ‘their good human beings’ when in fact they desperately need a Saviour as well.

To the extent that we come to grips with the sin that we have been forgiven from will be expressed through the measure of our love. The saving grace of this story is found in this woman’s overwhelming sense of realization of what she knew about herself and what she knew about Jesus.

1 Corinthians 1:18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

They don’t know that they are drowning in a sea of unbelief, a pool of their own righteousness and extravagant acts of love will always look like foolishness to those who don't understand.

2 Corinthians 2:15 Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being saved and by those who are perishing.

Ephesians 2:8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – there is nothing that you can do to make yourself acceptable before God.

1 Timothy 1:15 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners--of whom I am the worst.

2 Timothy 1:9 who has saved us and called us to a holy life--not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time,

In the Christian doctrine of salvation, we are saved from “wrath,” that is, from God’s judgment of sin (Romans 5:9; 1 Thessalonians 5:9). Our sin has separated us from God, and the consequence of sin is death (Romans 6:23). Biblical salvation refers to our deliverance from the consequence of sin and therefore involves the removal of sin.

Salvation in Jesus is experienced through freedom from the power and domination of sin

John 17:17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.

Romans 6:14 For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.

Romans 8:2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.

It was just last night that I was reminded again about how powerful the deliverance that Jesus can give and that the Spirit of God can sustain to enable people to walk completely away from an addiction cold turkey, a day and night transformation.

Salvation in Jesus is experienced through deliverance from the presence of sin and into the presence of God – our protection

There were a couple of signs in particular, though, that brought the reality of the ‘salvation’ of the Lord home to several people.

1. The children of Israel felt like a death sentence was in their rear view mirror. They had just begun their exodus out of Egypt and Moses stands in front of the sea and tells them to not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the salvation of the Lord today! Exodus 14:13

We don’t have to wait till we get to heaven to experience the power and presence of Jesus.

2. In the familiar story of Luke’s Gospel, the angels made the pronouncement, Luke 2:11

Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.

Buddha: “Work out your own salvation. Do not depend on others.”

Author & former Czech President Vaclav Havel: “The salvation of this human world lies nowhere else than in the human heart, in the human power to reflect, in human meekness, and in human responsibility.”

Charles Francis Potter, On Humanism (1930): “Improvement [salvation] comes from within. No person or god can save another person.”

I was reading about a church that was quoted…If its got to be, its up to me… really?

He is our Saviour – one who alone is able to bring redemption and who alone has the power to redeem.

Romans 13:11 And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.

How do we receive salvation? We are saved by faith. First, we must hear the gospel—the good news of Jesus’ death and resurrection (Ephesians 1:13). Then, we must believe—fully trust the Lord Jesus (Romans 1:16). This involves repentance, a changing of mind about sin and Christ (Acts 3:19), and calling on the name of the Lord (Romans 10:9-10, 13).

A definition of the Christian doctrine of salvation would be “The deliverance, by the grace of God, from eternal punishment for sin which is granted to those who accept by faith God’s conditions of repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus.” Salvation is available in Jesus alone (John 14:6; Acts 4:12) and is dependent on God alone for provision, assurance, and security.

The Takeaway

How did Christ come to deliver us from the world?

He came to deliver us from self love and self worth to God’s love and God’s worth through the death of His Son on the cross.

Why do I need to be saved…I work hard, I’m a good person. A Saviour doesn’t mean anything unless you know you are going down...

What kind of extravagant act of love is the Saviour calling you to today?

He’s not looking for a polite and proper response. It is the kind of love that pours itself out for another.

Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13

Absolute Worth!

2011-11-29T23:10:00.000-05:00

Check out this video...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OZKZ5Cn-K0

Advent Conspiracy, the movement, is the belief that Christmas can still change the world!

Unfortunately in our Western world, our culture tends to obsess about what they don’t have and it all started back in the garden where Adam and Eve got fixated on the only thing that was off limits for them.

So, we know there is this constant yearning for the next thing in our culture and the best antidote that I know is learning to give it away.

How do we not get caught up in a subtle but subversive movement where love is defined even in the most pure of relationships, that between a father and son, mother and daughter where we have the mindset “Well, I didn’t have this stuff, but I’m going to sacrifice and make it happen so you can have all the kind of presents that I didn’t have.

Maybe you have had one of these conversations as a parent…where Christmas is going to be as big this year. It was measured by the amount of presents under the tree or how full the garbage bag of wrapping paper was afterwards. However, what if we said it would be bigger than ever! A crazy notion that we would give away gifts that would multiply far greater in our world than we could ever spend on each other.

How, you ask? By giving to organizations like Samaritan’s Purse, Compassion or Partners International to name a few. They offer you opportunities to give gifts that provide wells for communities to helping children out of the child sex trade.

In Matthew 13:44,45, Jesus tells the parable of the hidden treasure and the pearl of great price and these two stories will frame my thoughts for our time together this morning.

The Greatest Discovery

READ Matthew 13:44, 45

Jesus tells us two stories about two men absolutely committed to possessing something of great worth. One sells everything he has so he can possess a treasure he finds hidden in a field. The other cashes in all his belongings so he can own the most spectacular pearl he’s ever laid eyes on.

Have you ever made an investment that was ‘pure gold’ for you?

How about an investment that gave you close to a 100% rate of return…A Night In Bethlehem grew from over 500 visitors last year to over 1000 this year. There wasn’t an official count, but we went from giving out 50 New Testaments to about 575 New Testaments this year!

Bobby C. makes a huge investment in PK… 16 men from those two buses prayed to receive Christ.

Do you know what Jesus says? Jesus says, “That’s what the kingdom of heaven is like.” Jesus says, “Just like those two men were willing to give up everything they owned so they could possess that treasure and that pearl, your commitment to me must be greater than your commitment to anything else on earth.” Do you possess that kind of overwhelming hunger to possess Jesus? Where’s that kind of hunger come from? What makes people like you and me to become fully committed followers of Christ?

There are these moments when something big and beautiful happens that catches people’s attention.

I believe that the Nativity Scene this year captured the imagination of people’s hearts in a way that they were challenged to make room for the Saviour! Steve H was one of the shepherds who bowed in that stable countless times over the three nights and spoke about how powerful that moment was.

It starts with a discovery. In these parables it all begins when one man discovers a treasure hidden in a field and when another man discovers a pearl of great worth. Commitment to Christ begins when we discover Him.

One thing these parables teach us is that different people discover the truth about Jesus in different ways. In the first parable we find a man who isn’t even looking for treasure. He just stumbles onto it. He’s walking along minding his own business and finds the treasure in a field by accident. It’s exactly opposite of what happens in the parable of the pearl. There we find a merchant who has spent his entire life searching for that perfect pearl that he ultimately finds.

Isn’t that the way it is with Christ? Some of you here today had no intention of ever following Christ. For a good part of your life you didn’t think about God. You didn’t care about God, but then the good news about Jesus unexpectedly broke into your life and you were forever changed. As it has been said, ‘You weren’t looking God, but He was looking for you!’

On the other hand, some of us had a different experience. It seems that some people are just born with an acute spiritual longing. Like that man visiting one market after another in search of the perfect pearl, you searched for God. Maybe you went from one philosophy to another or from one religion to another. Then one day somebody told you about Jesus and you discovered that peace with God isn’t about religion. It’s about a relationship. It’s not about works. It’s about grace. It’s about personal faith in Christ. Your search was over and now you found what so many people are still looking for.

Different people discover the truth about Jesus in different ways. Some are born into Christian families. Some hear the truth from Christian friends. Some come to know about Christ through hardship and trials. Some open a Bible for the very first time. It doesn’t matter. The point is, absolute commitment to Christ can’t happen unless you somehow discover Him. You can’t possess a treasure you never found.

Heather V. shares the story about her son, Ethan.

The story begins when Ethan, last year in grade one, initially got a teacher that we knew was antagonistic towards the gospel. A son of a Christian family that we know had this teacher and when he was open with the class about his faith, the teacher told him point blank that what he believed was wrong and continued throughout the school year to berate him when he talked about God. At first we thought we would leave Ethan where he was given that he is a quiet guy and we didn't think he would talk as openly about things of God as this little friend had. However we had a gut feeling that we should request another teacher for him, this kind of move being something we had never requested for any of our other children in the past. The principal told us it was pretty much an impossibility given the make up of all the classes. A week and a half into the school year we received a call saying that something had come up and they were able to move Ethan to another grade one class. He ended up with a Christian teacher.

A few weeks later I went on a field trip with Ethan's class and shared a bus seat with a little girl named Annika, who out of the blue asked me if I thought there was a God and said she didn't think there was. A few months later we were looking for Ethan's beginner Bible to read to him at bedtime and he told us he had taken it to school to read during free reading time. He said he couldn't bring it home for a while as he had loaned to Annika , who reading at about a grade four level, had been reading it over and over again! Who knows what seeds were planted! Of course if Ethan had the original teacher, she never would have allowed a Bible to be passed on during reading time. And we had underestimated what Ethan would share at school regarding things of God!

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” John 4:13,14 NIV

The Ultimate Pursuit

But finding treasure is only the first step. It’s not enough to simply discover Jesus. Commitment requires us to recognize His great worth. In verse 46 Jesus tells us that when the merchant found his pearl, he recognized what many people never saw. He recognized that the pearl he was looking at was a pearl of great value. I wonder, how many people see Jesus and never recognize His worth?

A life of absolute commitment to Christ doesn’t happen just because we discover the truth about Jesus. Commitment only happens when we recognize His worth. This is where I fear most of us just don’t get it. We don’t really recognize the infinite worth of Christ. If we did, we would not hesitate to put our absolute trust in Him

The treasure is always there for us even if it is hidden. The fact that we are digging in a field suggest that we may fruitlessly search in life for all sorts of encounters , for meaning, for truth, for joy, whatever and try to find it in relationships, the pursuit of pleasure and of course then there’s physical beauty or physical strength. Why is physical beauty of such great worth to so many? Physical strength ultimately fades away. We have all seen people who have taken it too far with facial lifts, botox, ‘lipo-suction’!

But sometimes as one writer puts it, we are led unexpectedly through someone or something, an experience , an often simple encounter that leads us to that ‘ah ha’ moment , and in that moment we find the ultimate experience of true joy in God alone and we realise that to continue this new way of being will cost us everything.

Have you recognized the great worth of Jesus? Do we really understand the treasure He is? Every one of us deserves to be eternally separated from God in hell. Do you understand that? Do you believe that about yourself? Jesus rescues us. In Christ we get forgiveness. We get heaven. What’s that worth to you? In Christ we get adopted into God’s family. Because of Jesus, God Himself becomes your Father. Through faith you become His son. You become His daughter. What’s that worth to you?

You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:13 NIV

I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me. Proverbs 8:17 ESV

The Joy In Surrender

What happens inside someone when they discover Jesus and recognize His worth? Joy happens! When you recognize the worth of Jesus, you become joyfully determined to possess Him no matter what! Listen one more time to Matthew 13:44-46. Jesus says, The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.

Sometimes we get it so wrong. We talk about all the sacrifices we have to make for Jesus. Here’s what we all need to see. In this parable there’s no sacrifice at all. The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought the field.

How is it possible for someone to give up everything they possess with laughter and joy?

The only way that you would be able to do that would be if if you knew that what you were about to receive was of far greater value than what you gave up.

I don’t know what you’re hanging onto today. I don’t know what’s of great worth to you. Maybe it’s money. Maybe it’s control. Maybe it’s some pet sin you think you just can’t live without. Whatever it is, know this—it’s not worth what He’s worth. Not even close. Discover Jesus. Recognize his worth. Don’t you see the treasure He is to you? Isn’t it time for some real joy in your life. Here’s the thing, God can’t place in your hands what He has for you as long as you hand is clenched and shut. Open up your hands and stop holding on to stuff so you can receive what He is waiting to give you.

Isaiah 55:1-3,6,7

· Understanding what the kingdom of heaven isn’t -

Listen to what Jesus is telling us here. The kingdom of heaven isn’t about losing out or ending up with the short end of the stick.

· Understanding what the kingdom of heaven is - It is about the best investment that you will ever make with your life.

It’s about trading death for life. It’s about trading temporary toys for eternal riches. It’s about trading bondage for freedom. It’s about trading shame for joy. It’s about trading rejection for acceptance. It’s about trading your fear and emptiness for the love that never disappoints. The kingdom of heaven is infinite treasure. The kingdom of heaven is the pearl of great price.

The Takeaway

Nothing on earth can touch what we receive in the person of Jesus Christ. He is absolutely worth every part of the pursuit!

When Jesus talks about selling all and purchasing the kingdom, He is not suggesting that God can be bought off. He is not saying we should abandon all possessions and become beggars. So what are we selling? He is speaking of a willful abandoning those possessions that compete for one true devotion to Christ.

We are called to have one true treasure (Matthew 6:19-21) and confess one true Master (Matthew 6:24)

I did some research on pearls...here is what you need to know.

Pearls are formed in oysters as a response to an irritant, which enters when the shell valves are open for feeding or respiration. The oyster secretes nacre, a sticky substance around the object to protect the soft tissue and seals off the irritation. Layer upon layer the nacre coats the irritant and a pearl is formed, buried deep within the oyster. Light reflected from the layers produces the iridescent lustre. In our present consumer frenzied world we are probably all familar with the phrase "I've got to have it" but the stark reality is that we don't need half of what we think we can't do without.

The parable of the pearl is a great illustration of the way in which our spiritual lives are formed. Inside the shells of our heart we are irritated by feeding and taking in all the lies we are led to believe that we need to live but cumulatively these damage us, both physically and spiritually. Christ "our nacreous shell " forms and protects us layer by layer and He becomes the treasure in us, in our jars of clay. Philippians 1:6 He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it!

There’s another way of looking at these 2 parables. Instead of thinking of the treasure hunter as YOU, think of him as GOD. Instead of you being the merchant, think of GOD going through the marketplace. Now the story is different. Now the treasure hidden in the field is – YOU and ME! Now the pearl of great price is – US!

And what does God “sell” to make his purchase? Better question, who? Jesus. Jesus, His only Son. He gave His greatest treasure, to make us his treasured possessions.

Phillip Lichtenwalter

So, what will your family’s ‘advent conspiracy’ be this year? Where will you invest in the Kingdom that will be multiplied and worth so much more for Jesus than all those typical gifts this Christmas?

Blessed Are The Persecuted

2011-11-14T13:42:00.000-05:00

Please visit www.callformercy.com to sign the petition on behalf of Asia as we pray for her release!

Many experts suggest that more than 200 million people in over 60 nations face violent persecution or detention because of their identity as Christians. At least that many or more are discriminated against on a regular basis because of the faith.

• Christians are the largest identifiable group in the world today who are denied their basic human rights simply because of who they are.

• Evangelicals are growing at a rate three times faster than the world's population growth rate In 2000, evangelicals had an annual growth of almost 5%

• In China, the Protestant church had maybe 1,260,000 members in 1949. Today the church has grown to at least 81 million members (registered and unregistered).

• In Africa alone, the rate of church growth has been nothing short of staggering, skyrocketing from an estimated 10 million Christians in 1900 to 360 million in 2000.

• The church in Sudan is the fastest growing church in the Muslim world; this despite facing some of the most horrendous persecution known to man in recent years.

• India now has 10 churches with more than 10,000 members and 30 that have more than 3,000 members. In 1999, one church leader reported baptizing 2231 in a single day. Some Indian denominations are reporting that they are planting a new church every day.

• Among the Hmong people of northern Vietnam, there were NO evangelical Christians in 1989. In 11 years, by 2000, they numbered over 175,000. All of this church growth has taken place while being brutally oppressed by Vietnamese authorities.

• One of the main reasons for the persecution of Christians worldwide has been because of its rapid growth. It is truer to say that church growth causes persecution than that persecution causes church growth. In some countries, such as Iraq, Jordan, Syria, and other parts of the Middle East, persecution has actually caused the church to significantly shrink in size over the past 100 years.

The reality is that in these places they are desperately trying to get the Word out to people who have never heard and they are ready to pay the price.

When one part of the body suffers, all the body suffers. We enter into and feel the persecuted church.

When we look at suffering in the NT, we will find that the majority of passages that deal with suffering deal with it in context to suffering for following Christ. The truth remains that for the majority of Christians who live in North America, we have no idea what suffering for our faith really is.

Some of you have been ostracized from your immediate family because of your decision to follow Jesus and there are those who may have been passed over for a job because of your faith. You may have been sworn at, ridiculed for your faith, but we still have no clue unless we choose to engage and face the brutal realities in our world.

Sharon and I have been reading the story of brother Yun in the Heavenly Man…

When you really immerse yourself into the stories of persecuted believers, their pain, their sorrow, it makes you come undone for your brothers and sisters. For me a righteous indignation starts to rise up in me and it is all too easy to be filled with hatred for what is done and then I listen to their testimonies.

Blessed Are The Persecuted

1. The HIGH cost of discipleship

Matthew 16:24-27

Last week Pastor John challenged us on the reality of what it means to follow Christ. The call to deny ourselves is to give our lives over to something that is greater than our own pursuit of success and fulfillment in life. to deny ourselves is the call of Christianity.

The demand of Jesus on His followers is to tread the path of martyrdom. As He prepared to send His disciples out as sheep among wolves and He told them that they would likely die in the process of carrying out their ministry. In order to build His Church (Matthew 16:18), His death was necessary, as He points out in 16:21. This is the foundation. Without Christ's death there is no redeemed community. But just as Christ's cross was needed to establish His Church, our crosses are needed to build His Church (16:24). Both are needed. As Josef Ton observed, "Christ's cross was for propitiation. Our cross is for propagation." To be called to follow Christ is to receive a call to suffer (e.g. Acts 9: 16; 14:22; 1 Thessalonians 3:3; 1 Peter 2:21; 3:9, 17).

This all comes into focus with the person of Jesus Christ, who is the revelation of God. He showed us what sacrificial love is; for Christ to suffer and die was to accomplish the Father’s purposes. We also recognize that the way up in the kingdom of God is down. Christ must continue to become an ever increasing reality and presence in my life and the pathway that God chooses to use us is through weakness, suffering and sacrifice. It is then and only then that we know beyond a shadow of doubt that God is at work but as His Word tells us, “my strength (power) is made perfect in your weakness”. 2 Corinthians 12:9

This is how God does His work. It is not through our strengths or compulsion, but through love and invitation and Jesus dies and takes our sin in His own body on the cross. He who knew no sin became sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21)

It is not so much a willingness to die as our readiness to be bold in our allegiance to Christ and our unconditional obedience to Him.

2. The pathway of persecution

Matthew 5:10-12 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

The president of Turkmenistan wishes everyone to honor him like a god, to bow in front of his picture; and he calls himself “the king of kings”. Christians in many of these persecuted countries suffer not only severe physical persecution, but also economic oppression.

In their extreme poverty, there is intense pressure to convert to the prevailing religion or deny their faith and they choose to stand strong and suffer for the name of Jesus their Lord.

They have been imprisoned, tortured, injected with poison and left for dead. They have had boiling water poured down their necks, scarred with acid and burned with fire. They have watched their Bibles being burned, their fathers taken away and they have fled from their villages for their very lives. They are our brothers and sisters and they ask us to not forget them.

2 Timothy 3:12 In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted

1 Peter 2:19-25 ESV For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. ²⁰For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? Butif when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. ²¹Forto this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.²² He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. ²³When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. ²⁴He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin andlive to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. ²⁵Foryou were straying like sheep, but have now returned tothe Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

From our perspective, we look at those who endure persecution as heroic, but Peter is stressing that they are recipients of grace. It is evidence that God is working in their life. There is no glory for the one that suffers.

The common practice for us in our Western practice is to thank God for living in a free country, the early believers thanked God for the privilege and honor to suffer for His sake (Acts 5:41). Paul spoke of how death was at work in him in order to bring life to others. 2 Corinthians 4:12. They recognized that bringing the love of God to a hurting world would cause them to face the hatred of those they were trying to reach.

3. The call to response for the follower of Jesus

Romans 12:17-21 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord. 20 On the contrary:
   "If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
      if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
   In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head." 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

The call to response goes against human nature. This kind of behaviour can only come from the radical transformation of Jesus Christ and the result of the new nature within!

4. The prayer for persecutors Psalm 83

Persecution was hardly just a NT phenomenon

This psalm is what is known as a “communal lament,” the cry of the community of faith in their extremity to God. It is couched in the language and historical setting of ancient Israel, but it is the cry, fundamentally, not of Israel as a nation, but of Israel as the persecuted “people of God”: that is, it is the cry of the persecuted “church.”

First and fundamentally, we are to pray that God will be God in the situation V1-4

The cry of the Israelites comes out of the context of their relationship with Him. It is a call for God to act on their behalf.

Ironically, it is the nation of Israel’s problem yet today: Philistia is the modern day Gaza Strip; Gebal and Tyre are the coasts of present-day Lebanon and Syria;

Edom, Ammon, Moab, and the Hagrites fall roughly within the boundaries of Jordan;

The Ishmaelites traversed the deserts as the ancestors of the Arab kingdoms; Amalek roamed the Sinai, now in the domain of Egypt; and Assyria—well, Assyria is modern day Iraq.

We are to pray for their shame, that they will be convicted so that they will seek Your Name v13-18

V16 so that ‘they’ will seek your Name... and if not v17 – may they perish in disgrace…

“prayer is not the preparation for the battle, prayer is the battle.” For the battle is the Lord’s, and in prayer we come before the Lord . . .

And yet, even in this litany of perennial enemies, we must remember the redemptive thread, woven throughout the Old and New Testaments: that there will be those even from these who will share in the eternal presence and praises of God; for the redeemed of the Lord will come “from every tribe and tongue and people and nation” (Rev 5:9). Though here these nations are the sworn enemies of God’s people, one of King David’s mighty men was (likely) a Hagrite (1 Chr 11:38), another was an Ammonite (11:39), and yet another a Moabite (11:46). Moreover, one of his officials was also a Hagrite (1 Chr 27:31), and another an Ishmaelite (27:30). And Philistia and Tyre will become “born again” as God’s people (Ps 87:4). And even hated Assyria and Egypt will both become God’s very own, on par with Israel—fully embraced into God’s people (Isa 19:24-25). Even when we rightly—as God demonstrates in His Word—pray against the enemies of God and His people, we do so remembering the redemptive constant—a sometimes-faint-yet-continuous tone, which pervades the pages of Scripture and the plan of God.

The Takeaway

There is a clear scriptural link between persecution and discipleship. Indeed, there can be no discipleship without persecution; to follow Christ is to join Him in a cross-carrying journey of reconciling the world to the Father.

Your Leading Instinct!

2011-10-24T13:58:00.000-04:00

There was a recent article in Macleans magazine that caught my attention. The title was, 'Why Hockey Is The Smartest Game In The World'. The reasoning according to Adam Gopnik is that in hockey you have the finest theatre to display the power of spatial intelligence and situational awareness! It is the ability to make quick decisions, size up relationships in a fast paced, changing array of circumstances. It is also a heightened consciousness of your surroundings, both to the intentions of the people around you and their location. It is an instinct that some players just have in leaps and bounds and no one had it better than Wayne Gretzky and the way he connected with Jari Kurri.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vF3oyoyKZcE

Gretzky spoke of instinct and the ability to go where the puck was going to be and not where it is. In many sports there is this balance between open and closed information; however in hockey you see it all happen right before you very eyes and pivotal moments are discovered after the fact.

In the church we also need players with spatial intelligence and this will only come as we fully identify with the environment that God has placed us in. It couldn't be said better than Paul's prayer for the Ephesian believers in 3:14:19

¹⁴ For this reason I kneel before the Father, ¹⁵ from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name.¹⁶ I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, ¹⁷ so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, ¹⁸ may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, ¹⁹ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God

So, are we ready to talk about spatial awareness for the follower of Jesus? It is inner strength fueled by the Spirit of God. The more we listen to the Holy Spirit's promptings, the more we rest in His strength, the more confident we will be in the indwelling presence of Jesus Christ. How do we move forward with this incredible assurance? We need to recognize that is our first place, our top priority, the place we need to be in before all else. It is not adding to my strength, but an exchange of my strength for His strength. In Isaiah 40:28-31, the word for renew is better understood as an exchange and this comes as we wait on Him. This passage also speaks about love in all its vast dimensions that also comes from Jesus. This is the kind of love that brings healing not only in our relationship with God but also in our relationships with each other. This kind of love takes a revelation that goes beyond our senses.

In Ephesians 3:20, 21 we have a serious reflection on the kind of 'situational awareness' that Paul wants all of us in the Church to have!

²⁰ Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, ²¹ to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

As I reflect on what God wants to do in this local church at Grace, I pray that my leading instinct will take me further and further into the redemptive potential that comes from believing what He wants to do.

Lord Jesus, keep stretching us more and more for what is beyond our reach but always close in view for You! Enable us to make the kind of decisions that put no limits on what You want to see for all generations!

Day 40 - Eyes On The Finish Line!

2011-10-20T00:18:00.001-04:00

Read Hebrews 12:1-3

Tom and Sheila Ward’s son, Matt, just completed Hawaii’s Ironman World Championship and finished the race in 11hrs 5min! So, what were the distances that he had to perform you might ask? It consists of a 3.8km swim, a 180km bike ride and a 42km run! Now, that is pushing your body to it’s very limits and you can appreciate the training regimen that goes along with that kind of commitment. Matt received the opportunity to compete by winning a lottery spot because the average person has little chance to qualify. The people who qualify are genetically gifted and dedicate most of their time to training. He dedicated 15-16 hours a week to training which is significant but even that is on the low side compared to most that will spend 20-25 hours per week. As I had the opportunity to connect with Matt about triathlons, one thing stood out to me. He shared with me how many people will drop and fall out of the race sometimes within 100 to 150m away from the finish line. I was really surprised by that, but he shared how often the mental battle is as real as the physical one. One thing that Matt will do prior to a race is to take a significant amount of time just staring at the finish line. He wants to have a clear picture in his mind of what he will need to focus on to see him through to the end and for him it works.

I believe focusing on the finish line should be the same for us in the Christian life. Often we get wrapped up in all the details and distractions of life and before long we can easily forget that we are in a race as well. We need to continually keep asking ourselves the question, ‘In light of eternity, what difference will this make?’ I want to make sure that everything I do really positions me to finish well. My ability to persevere through the tests of life will be directly related to how well I am fixated on Jesus Christ and the life that He lived for me.

So, here we are at the end of 40 days of our journey together and my desire for each of us would be to continue to listen to His still small voice. The only way that we get to where we need to go is by getting a fresh vision of Jesus and letting His words permeate our lives. So, yes the devotionals, go blank tomorrow. However, my prayer is that as you read His Word and listen, He will give you the fresh insights that you need each day! Run the race with the finish line in mind!

Be Blessed!

Day 39 - Consumers or Investors?

2011-10-19T09:40:00.000-04:00

When God gave Israel its rules for living, what it would mean for them to be a God honoring fully alive community, he spent a great deal of time instructing them in what it meant to reflect his character to the surrounding nations. God is a giver; He’s generous rather than stingy, greedy consumer, so he wanted Israel to reflect his character to other nations. In order to make sure this happened he laid out some principles that he wished his community to follow. These principles reflected God’s character and concern and what He desired to be mirrored.

“Be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each year.” (Deuteronomy 14:22) So ten percent seems to be the number the community is to give to God. But it doesn’t stop there. God says that there’s also to be what’s called a “Sabbath year.” “But in the seventh year the land is to have a Sabbath of rest, a Sabbath to the LORD. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards.” (Leviticus 25:4) God says, “Out of concern for the earth that I made, I want the land to have a rest one year out of every seven.” This practice used to be followed. Now, with the advent of strong fertilizers it is seldom practiced – because every ounce of life is to be sucked out of the land to be profitable. But God says “let the land go. I think my people need to do this because if they don’t they will become greedy and will loose faith in trusting me that I will provide for them.”

Then God challenges them on this front, ‘At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts.’ (Deuteronomy 15:1) Imagine if that might happen today and what that would look like. Hey hon, Visa called, “Good news! It’s the Sabbath year! They don’t want our money.”! ... Well, we know that won’t happen, but what about us? How do we respond to those who ‘owe us’?

“If there are poor among your people in any of the towns of the land that the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted towards them. Rather be openhanded and freely lend them what they need. Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought: ‘The seventh year, the year for canceling debts, is near,’ so that you do not show ill will toward your needy among your people and give them nothing. They may then appeal to the Lord against you, and you will be found guilty of sin. Give generously to them and do so without a grudging heart.” (Deuteronomy 15:7-10a)

Previous to this God says in verse 4 if they live this – if they choose generosity - there will be no poor among their community. But not just that, there was something else called the year of Jubilee. God’s concern here is to prevent chronic poverty, so every 50 years all the land was supposed to go back to the original owner.

Also they also lived by what are called ‘gleaning laws.’ “When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the alien, the fatherless and the widow.” (Deuteronomy 24:19) God was saying, ‘Listen, don’t try to squeeze every last bit of your profits out when you farm!’

Now, why are people supposed to do this? God wants them to choose life.

After the word “no” what do you think is a two-year-old’s favorite word in the whole world? “Mine!”

God wants to root that word out of his people. So he says, “I want you to learn how to share. God wanted them and us to understand a life giving principle – that there is no cause and effect relationship between well-off and well being. In the past 30 years our material standard of living has sky rocketed, yet it has happened with no measurable increase in any standards of happiness and peace.

If an Israelite was simply devoutly following the law, all together they’d be giving away close to thirty percent of their income! Now some of that giving was likened to what we have to give in taxes. However, I generally tended to think that giving in the Old Testament was kind of a mechanical deal, but that’s not true. God’s goal was never to have a mechanical gift given to him. Deuteronomy 15:7 says, “Do not be hardhearted or tightfisted. Rather be openhanded.” Now, imagine a community where everybody was openhanded. Stop and think how beautiful that would look. A community marked by its generosity.

If Christ followers continue to understand and experience God’s grace on a daily basis then that grace changes them. It changes them from being people that always think about themselves. It changes them into people who are not only recipients of God’s love, but desire to express God’s love to those who are hurting, less fortunate and the poor around them. The parable of Jesus in Matthew 10:37-42 illustrates that a community that has received God’s grace does not hoard it but generously gives it away. A fully alive generously gives of their time, talents, and treasures doing the things that Jesus would be doing – going about doing the business of his kingdom.

Last week at the Saturday Night Supper at the Royal City Life Center was a beautiful example of our people young and old together being investors not consumers in the kingdom of God. Let’s keep this kind of spirit going and thanks to all those who made amazing meals because they truly notice. It was such a joy for me to sit with the people gathered there and listen to talk with amazement at the variety of food and how incredible it was. We also had good conversations about faith and life.

Day 38 - Security or Generosity

2011-10-18T00:02:00.000-04:00

Read 1 Timothy 6: 3-18

Let’s talk about the touchy subject of money for a moment. Society tends to classify people in two camps – the haves and the have-nots or rich and poor. However, the Bible doesn’t split things up this way. There are actually four classifications and two categories that ties rich and poor together. Let me explain by describing the four classifications. A great deal of this is fleshed out in the book of Proverbs found in the Old Testament in the Bible.

1) The Righteous Rich

These are the people who work hard and work smart. They save provisions for possibly difficult days ahead. They make wise investments. They are frugal. They don’t “love money” but they love God and they realize any blessing or provisions or riches they do have is because of God and belongs to him anyway. They don’t “hoard” their riches but are generous because they see themselves as being blessed to be a blessing to others. They know that somehow they are blessed, not for an exclusive and elite privilege, but for service and sacrifice. They are thankful.

2) The Righteous Poor

These are also people who work hard and work smart. They save provisions for possibly difficult days ahead. They don’t “love money” but they love God and they realize all they have is belongs to God. If possible they are generous with what they have but working smart and hard in this world doesn’t guarantee fiscal reward. The book of James says that those in humble circumstance might actually be blessed because they don’t experience the same temptations that riches can bring. In their life situation moving up the ladder might have meant compromising some core values so they have been held back. They could have also been born into poverty and find their social class difficult or impossible to break out of. They are thankful regardless of their circumstances.

3) The Unrighteous Rich

These are people who have moved up the ladder by compromise. They oppress their workers and are unfair. They have gained their wealth in underhanded ways. They are greedy and love money. They care little about God and see themselves as the sole reason for their own success. They see themselves as being blessed they deserve it. The see those less fortunate than themselves as deserving their lot in life and if they would just work hard and get a job then they would get ahead.

4) The Unrighteous Poor

Proverbs describes these people as “fools.” They would rather see themselves as victims and keep placing their bets.. They care little about God and find themselves in their situation in life because of their poor choices and behaviors. They don’t work hard; they don’t save; and they are not frugal. What little they have is theirs, and there is no way they are going to share it, because they have no trust in God to provide for them.

Now, what counts to God, it is not whether a person has riches or not but whether they live for him or not. Fully alive followers of Christ see themselves as blessed to be a blessing. They see that everything they have belongs to God. They trust in God to provide for them tomorrow and they live with a spirit of generosity whether they are rich or poor.

Day 37 - Better Givers

2011-10-17T07:51:00.000-04:00

Read Luke 12:24-34

I think there is something wonderful about God. He just loves to share. Everything we have and our very lives are not our own; ultimately they are God’s. But he allows us to live and enjoy all that is his. Having possessions is not wrong. God owns everything, but he has within him the incredible capacity to share what he has with all of us. He owns it; it’s all his, but he allows us to enjoy, use and consume his world. What would it be like if he didn’t do this? What would it be like if God was not a giver? What would it be like if all he ever did was consume rather than give and share? Actually the very thought is frightening and brings to mind images of slavery. Fortunately for us God is a giver. That was never more evident than in the ultimate demonstration of Jesus who gave his life for us. He demonstrated his incredible capacity to give by sacrificing his life. If Christ was a giver, shouldn’t his followers demonstrate this same capacity? Shouldn’t we also display an incredible capacity to hold on loosely and share? I have said it before; here is a paradox of the Christian faith – you are never fully alive until you are dead. Full life is not experienced until we put off some of our selfish inclinations and put on the character of the creator. God is a giver. It’s part of his character. Furthermore, it is how we were created to be. But how do we give? How do we reflect his character and become fully alive? Rick Warren outlines some simple characteristics and guidelines in giving like God:

Remember it all belongs to God. Our harvest comes from God, who even gave us the seeds to grow the crop: “He gives you something you can then give away, which grows into full-formed lives, robust in God” (2 Corinthians 9:10, The Message).

Give with a cheerful heart. God doesn’t want your possessions; he wants your heart (Matthew 6:21). What motivates your giving? Paul wrote, “God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7b).

Never give under pressure. God wants you to “make up your own mind what you will give.” This will “protect you against sob stories and arm twisting” (2 Corinthians 9:7, The Message). If you feel pressured to give, don’t. God wants you to carefully consider your generosity, and to then give voluntarily.

You really do have more to share than you realize. And the Bible promises, “A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed” (Proverbs 11:25). Learn to live generously. You’ll be richer for it in the end. (Warren, Rick, Better Together, 134,135)

Day 36 - Koinonia

2011-10-16T07:21:00.000-04:00

Read Philippians 2:1-11

The word for community in the Bible is fellowship and in the greek it is called koinonia. It is such an important word. It is translated – participation, contribution, generosity. It is participation on all parts our time, our energy, our money. Hebrews 13:16 tells us to share with others (koinoneo) In the Amplified Bible, it reads, “Do not forget or neglect to do kindness and good, to be generous and distribute and contribute to the needy of the church as embodiment and proof of fellowship, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.” Keep doing good and ‘sharing your resources’ – that’s the word for community. So we can’t complete our focus on community without looking at how to be more generous with each other. Karl Menninger, the famous psychiatrist, who opened up a psychiatric clinic in his name said this, “Generosity is one of the essential components of mental health.” We have found that generous people are rarely ill. So, for the sake of your mental health, let’s look at this.

This new reality comes when you begin to look beyond yourself. You see, when human beings give themselves to something beyond themselves, they have an incredibly powerful and life-giving experience. Why is it so powerful? Simply because when you give of yourself, you are fulfilling your purpose in life. You are becoming like Jesus who demonstrated what it means to give.

Christ generously gave all of himself for us. Fully alive Christ followers are never more alive than when they follow the example of Jesus and they live outside of themselves for something bigger than themselves. I don’t know anything more worthwhile, more fulfilling than to live for what Jesus proclaimed, talked about and demonstrated every chance he had – the kingdom of God.

As one theologian said, ’we live in a now, not yet world’. We are called to bring the kingdom of God to a world that experiences little or nothing of it. We are called to show Christ’s unconditional love to others and it’s going to cost us in terms of our time and money. Who is someone this week that you can show that kind of love to? Allow the Holy Spirit to prompt you and enable you to show someone ‘koinonia’ this week.

Day 35 - Grace Staff Values!

2011-10-15T07:24:00.000-04:00

Read Deuteronomy 6:1-9

In a message last month, I shared how I was inspired by a family who stated their family values and placed them in a frame in their home for all those to see who entered in. As you have been reading earlier this week about our Team Day, I want to share with you the values that we have affirmed and possibly inspire you to consider what you may create in your home as a commitment to the values that you will affirm!

PRAY

SEEKING His face John 7:37-39; 1 Peter 2:4-12

We will pray for each other and our three friends that we are seeking to lead to Jesus

· We will seek to encourage others to interact with our friends in meaningful ways

· We will learn to be led by the Holy Spirit in our conversations

· We will look for God given divine appointments and share our ‘God stories’ with each other

· Each member of the team will be encouraged to lead and share insights

· We will spur each other on with the passions and gifting God has given us

SPEAK

SHARING our hearts John 15:9-17

We will commit to a high level of open communication with each other.

· We will be transparent and honest with each other, looking for opportunities to encourage

· We will commit to submitting a clear ‘week at a glance’ with a breakdown of office hours and ministry commitments and administrative projects as well as a ‘month at a glance’

· We will not let conflict go underground

· We will collaborate on our ministries and meetings.

· We will sharpen each other in our focus and execution of ministry plans and mentor each other through the process

SERVE Colossians 4:2-6

SERVING in His strength

We will commit as a staff team to serving with our community partners on a quarterly basis

· No job is too insignificant for us and we will be prepared to serve in any role

· We will continue to share how we can work together more efficiently as a team.

Day 34 - This Is Our Time

2011-10-14T12:48:00.002-04:00

Read Acts 26:12-29

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.” (1 Corinthians 12:27) A body needs a reason to move. If it has no reason to move it will lose its energy and capacity to be put in places of exertion. When all of the body is healthy –working together for its goal – it is strong and is able to achieve the life it was meant to live. The body is more than just a nice group of people who get along – it is the body of Christ.

Christ did some pretty amazing things while he was on this earth. His Spirit is still here and he has chosen you and me to do his work. “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:10)

In light of what God has called this community to do, we need every member of this body, who calls this place home, to move into the area where they have been best designed by God to serve. There is just too much at stake to sit and not serve. We are serious about this mission. We believe this is the most important mission on the planet. We link people with the Heavenly Father through Jesus who we believe can transform lives and the world.

This mission defines who we are as we are led by the Holy Spirit into the lives of others.

Somewhere in Guelph a family is ready to throw the towel in. A husband and wife are going to sit down at the table with a business card from a divorce attorney and they are going to ask, “What are we going to do?” And maybe, just maybe, they have a friend who goes to Grace who asks them to come to church. The husband is hard and antagonistic to the idea but by a miracle he agrees, just this one time. This member knows she has just one shot at this and all week long she prays, “Let this Sunday be perfect.”

She prays “God help them find a parking spot because they are late to everything. He really doesn’t want to come. When their children come to Compass, may they have the time of their life. I pray that they see their boys faces light up after because they love hanging out in the youth room. Also, when they come into the coffee room, please let someone shake their hand and make them feel welcome. When they come into the gym, please may there be a place at the back where they can sit because it will be so intimidating for them to have to walk down to the front and feel like there are all these eyes looking at them. Let the music minister to their hearts and let the message be understandable and relevant to their lives. May our people be filled with smiles and not glares and gestures like they are used to fighting every day. Let this place be different.”

And what she is praying is, “Will you partner with me in the redemption of my friends because I believe that Jesus is their only hope.

Day 33 - Diversity In Unity

2011-10-13T08:05:00.000-04:00

Read 1 Peter 4:7-11

I've gone through so much other stuff
That walking down the aisle was tough
But now I know it's not enough -
I want to be a clone.
I asked the Lord into my heart.
They said that that's the way to start,
But now you've got to play the part.
I want to be a clone.

Be a clone and kiss conviction goodnight.
Cloneliness is next to godliness - right?

So now I see the whole design:
My church is an assembly line.
The parts are there, I'm feeling fine.
I want to be a clone.
I've learned enough to stay afloat,
But not so much I rock the boat.

From ‘Be A Clone” Steve Taylor

One of the common criticisms of the Christian faith is that it creates a bunch of clones, with everyone believing the same thing. Some think this results in a homogeneous religion, without creativity or diversity. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Bible actually celebrates differences within community. Throughout the pages of the Bible we witness this wonderful distinctiveness. It reveals to us that everyone is created uniquely and encouraged to develop interdependently. We are most connected to God in worship when we are drawn into that place of community. We, as followers of Christ, are to serve in community through our originality, through our distinctive God-given gifts.

It is really comical to imagine that a body could function if we were all the same body part so then why do we try to fit people into our box? Why do we want people to look like us? It is our natural learned tendencies that get us stuck here. You don’t have to go very far to see this in branding and merchandising. The enemy would love nothing more than to get us all looking the same because his goal is for us to blend in and not stand out. Imagine if we all understood our diversity in its fullness. It would open the door to greater understanding and freedom and open us up to seeing who we can be for the glory of God.

Day 32 - Your Vantage Point

2011-10-12T07:47:00.000-04:00

Read John 15:9-17

The last part of our journey together on our Team Day was a hike around Rattlesnake Point. It was here that we took in an incredible view from the ‘Pinnacle Lookout’. I then asked each member to share what stood out most to them from what they could see and each one of us had such a different vantage point. One was struck by how peaceful we were compared to the busyness of the cars travelling in the distance all seemingly in a rush to get somewhere. Another noticed how busy and active the bees below us and it reminded them of their life and how they are always on the move looking for ways to serve others. One team member was struck by just how much land we have to live on compared to the places in the world where there is so little space to sustain such a meager existence.

It was a great reminder that we all have a different perspective on life as well as ministry and we can all bring so much to the table. Other believers can help us see things that we may have not even considered or even inspire us to do things we may have not done had we tried to do it on our own.

Later on our hike we climbed a pretty long set of stairs to view an incredible limestone wall. Nathan moved on right away and began to climb the rock wall with any hesitation. He managed to pull himself all the way to the top through a crevice where he could push back for grip as well. As I saw him do it with relative ease, I thought, ‘why not,’ and I began to free climb as well. It was exhilarating and challenging at the same time and I have to admit had he not done it, I probably wouldn’t have even considered it. So, in community, we are called to lead and we are called to follow.

Jesus gave us the ultimate vantage point when he showed us what it means to love others. He called us to a sacrificial love, a love that lays down it’s own agenda, it’s own life for the life of others. He called us to follow His example, obey His commands and in doing so we would find pure joy. He also called us His friends and it is never hard to follow a friend who stays close to Jesus.

What is one thing that another person has shown you about yourself that while maybe not easy has made you better because of it?

Day 31 - Serve In His Strength

2011-10-11T07:39:00.000-04:00

Read Colossians 4: 2-6

It has been said that we have put so much emphasis on avoiding evil that we have become virtually blind to the endless opportunities for doing good. We have defined our holiness through what we separate ourselves from rather than what we give ourselves to. I am convinced that the great tragedy is not the sins that we commit, but the life that we fail to live.

Another challenge that we face is that we are still influenced by a “Greek” or Hellenistic way of thinking, rather than a Biblical or Jewish way of thinking. The Greeks saw their lives completely compartmentalized. You are body, mind and spirit. Whatever you do in each category doesn’t affect the other. For the Greeks they could do all sorts of things to their body and the believe was that it would have no affect on their soul.

We still have to fight this tendency to compartmentalize our lives. Now, we don’t necessarily think “body, mind and spirit”, but we can easily separate ourselves into our work life, our home life, our social life, our leisure life and our church life.

There shouldn’t be a split between a person’s spiritual life and a person’s leisure life. Jewish thought and the Bible sees it that way – there is just your life – period.

God is not interested in some abstract thing called your “spiritual life,” he is interested in you! Furthermore Jesus talks about this word called “abide.” That means that His living presence goes where you go. Fully alive followers of Christ have Jesus transforming every aspect of their life. They live out how they where created in their work, homes, leisure and everywhere they go.

As we continued our hike on our ‘Team Day’ we hit Kelso Park and over lunch we talked about stories where God gave us opportunities to serve others outside of our church commitments. All too often as pastors we can be so compartmentalized to the point where everything we do is part of our job. As we shared with each other, we were inspired by the stories that God gave us to serve those in our community. It was done in a way that was such a natural overflow of the people that God had designed us to be. It wasn’t because we had to, but because His Spirit inspired us to serve with open hands which led to open doors in our conversations with others. We shared how it happened while doing home renovations with others, it happened when someone took the time to give their neighbours some tomatoes from their garden, it happened while connecting with some guys after a hockey game. In what way is God allowing it to happen with you?

Day 30 - Perfect Flow, Perfect Fit

2011-10-10T08:53:00.002-04:00

Read John 7:37-39; 1 Peter 2:4-12

This past week we had a team day for the staff at Grace and we took time to go to Hilton Falls, as part of the Halton Conservation Parks. It is one of my favorite places to go hiking and I went there often when I lived in Milton. As I reflected on what I should share, I was drawn to the constant overflow of the falls first as a reminder that Jesus said to us who believe, that, ‘streams of living water will flow from within him’. It is the living Spirit of God that we need to encounter everyday so that there is flow in our lives! As I am drawn into His presence, He ministers to me, floods my soul with His truth, His affirmation and His grace. It is only as a result of that overflow that my life is used to minister and speak into the lives of others. Our service for Christ should naturally be an outflow of our relationship with Him. It was that very picture that Jesus wanted to create at the Feast of Tabernacles where the pitchers of water would be poured out and flow to the south side of the temple. He was saying in effect, the temple is no longer a building, it is a people from whom God’s presence will flow. Look at Ezekiel 47:1-12 to see the context. It is a perfect flow!

The next truth that really hit me while I prepared for our walk was the fact that this was the site of an old sawmill from the mid 1800s. There was a dam created there to harness the energy of the falls and the remnants of that dam are still there today. The unique quality of its structure is that the dam was constructed of dry stone walls on the up-and-down sides. The core consisted of loose stone and fill, not bound with cement. So, here’s the other truth, we were designed as believers for a ‘perfect fit’! We are the living stones that God has uniquely fitted into place built on the cornerstone or capstone of Jesus Christ. We are being designed as a living temple where we are all being built up in each other and so we were meant to complement and strengthen each other! There is nothing artificial or manmade about the community of faith that God in His divine wisdom fits together. So, while it was pretty neat to sit on a structure that had lasted for over 150 years, we are part of a living, active design that has gone on for 2000 years.

So, if your soul is weary and thirsty, go to that place where He can fill you with more of Himself and then allow that overflow to strengthen your commitment to fit with others in this place! As a team we spent time sharing what we felt was one of our defining moments and how that really changed the trajectory of our lives. We then took turns praying into the way God designed us. Take time to discover this with your family or small group this week!

Day 29 - You Were Made For Action

2011-10-09T22:04:00.000-04:00

Read 1 Corinthians 12

Atrophy is described as “a wasting away of the body, or an organ, or part, as from disuse.” Simply put, if a body part lies dormant it atrophies. It becomes weaker and weaker and if it lies there long enough disease can set in.

My stepfather Jim had a love for classic sports cars and he owned a 1961 green MGA fixed head coupe and a red convertible ’81 Triumph Spitfire roadster. They were restored and are sharp looking vehicles. However, it was his ‘58 blue Austin Healy Sprite ‘bug eye’ Roadster with it’s right-hand drive, right from the Great of Britain that was my favorite. Every spring they would come out of the barn. He would put the battery back in, warm up the engine, check the necessary lubrication, cross his fingers and hope they were ready for a drive on the lazy roads of Belwood! Cars are built to be driven and after winter he has to do the necessary checks to get them into gear. Left alone, seals would begin to harden and crack, parts would begin to lose lubrication and stiffen up, causing its life expectancy to go down dramatically or result in a major breakdown.

The same goes for the human body. Your body is meant to move. The apostle Paul describes what a church is like by calling it a body. If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. (1 Corinthians 12:15) I want you to think about what it would be like if your left foot decided to pack it in – “I have been holding things up around here way too long; I am out of here.” You could still move, but it would be with great difficulty and it would put strain on your whole right side.

Listen, if you call Grace Community Church your “body” but are not functioning as a part of the body then unknowingly you are hurting the body. If you stay that way – if you stay atrophic, you will get sick, then infected and eventually you will be contagious in a bad way because you where made for a purpose. Body members have a function; they are made for action! You where made for action and you where made for service. A united community is a community that moves, that is, actively doing what each part of the body was gifted and created to be.

Day 28 - Go Outside The Camp!

2011-10-08T00:48:00.000-04:00

Read Luke 10:25-37

I know this may seem like an odd story to begin with, but trust me it as it relates to individualism vs living in community and the ramifications of our own decisions.

When the Israelites were fleeing Egypt and were camped out in the wilderness God gave them this instruction: “Designate a place outside the camp where you can go to relieve yourself. As part of your equipment have something to dig with, and when you relieve yourself, dig a hole and cover up your excrement.” (Deuteronomy 23:12-14) Imagine with me being an Israelite in this situation. “What do you mean I can’t go in the camp.” Remember too that this isn’t some little camp by Guelph Lake, this is a camp that was estimated to be 2.5 million people. Think of it right now. You would have to pick up a shovel and walk a long way outside of a very large community! Try to understand what must have been going through the mind of these Israelites. Why does God insist that we do this? Nevertheless they trusted in his authority and followed his instructions and for forty years they “went” outside the camp.

Now for over three thousand years people would read this story and not really understand why God would declare such a thing. It has been only in about the last one hundred years or so that we know about microbiology, bacteria and disease. If they had made a habit of relieving themselves in the camp, bacteria would grow, and disease would spread killing many in the camp without some form of sanitation system. They trusted God’s word and came under its authority even though they didn’t fully understand why God would give this command.

We have an innate temptation towards individualism, fueled by our culture, which leads us to believe that “I” am the final authority, “I” decide what is right and what is wrong, and “I” only really trust myself. If this is true, then there are six billion people on this planet who all are the final authority. But in such a small and strange way Israel avoided this devastating, inevitable outcome of rugged autonomy. Fully alive followers have as their final authority a commitment to God’s Word rather than their own. This can be tough at times.

Sometimes it means doing and believing things that we just can’t quite figure out. But some of those questions might fall under the category of “go outside the camp” sort of deal – obvious to us now, deadly if not followed, and beyond an ancient Israelite’s comprehension. Maybe the answer is not obvious to you now, but it might be later. There may even be explanations for disasters, calamities, or tragedies that we do not know; however we have to live without knowing them and trust God.

Trusting God doesn’t mean having a blind faith or never having questions. It means that trusting the authority of God when you don’t understand is always wise and just might save your life.

Day 27 - Spiritual Formation

2011-10-07T06:24:00.000-04:00

Read James 1:22-25

One of the best things we can do to shape our lives and become fully alive is to spend regular time in the presence of Jesus by reading and listening to his teachings. But reading the Bible is different than just reading a text book or a novel. The Bible is the story of God and humanity and how we are to relate to God, live, find and experience full life. Because of this it needs to be read “formationally” rather than simply “informationally.” This difference affects how and why we read the Bible. Either we read the Bible, join a life group Bible study, or attend a weekend service to learn more or we do these activities to be changed.

In informational learning we:

Cover as much as possible

Read line after line

Have a goal to master the text

Treat the text as an object

Read analytically

Solve problems

In formational learning we:

Cover what we need to

Read for depth, perhaps only one word

have a goal of being changed by the text

Treat ourselves as objects of the text

Read receptively

Are open to mystery

(Robert Mulholland, Shaped by the Word, 49-63)

Formational learning pushes us away from the process of simply “knowing information” to the transformation of “becoming.” Fully alive Christ-followers become alive when they allow what they know about God, that is, what it means to become fully alive, to become who they are.

Q How is His Word changing you?

Q How can we intently follow through on what God speaks to us in His Word?

Day 26 - New citizens in the old country

2011-10-06T09:31:00.000-04:00

Read Matthew 13:44-46

Living out the teachings of the Bible means living as a part of the kingdom of God. Jesus talked at great lengths whenever the occasion arose to talk about what it means for his followers to be a part of of this kingdom and how to live it out. When we read Jesus’ description of this new world often it is shrouded in mystery because in some sense it is indescribable. He used common terms of the day and described it as being like a mustard seed, yeast, weeds and a pearl just to name a few. It looks a lot different from the conformist mentality of our culture that wants us all to look the same and just fit in.

One writer described it this way: “Imagine you live in a country ruled by a cruel dictator. He controls the army, he controls the government, he controls the media. He controls the economy. It is a very subtle yet a very real type of control. Everything is done in this country to keep you compliant but somehow you know inside that you are not free. He uses his media to tell you conform, conform, conform and it is all about branding. Have you seen enough ‘Aeropostale’ or ‘American Eagle’ shirts out there?? We wonder how we can keep ourselves from being absorbed by our culture way of living? Is it possible to live, look and feel different as followers of Christ?

Imagine with me if you met visitors from another country who seem very happy with an inner beauty that is indescribable and you wonder why they would ever want to come to our country since our country is so self absorbed and they seem so happy. You notice that whenever these people come they tell you about their beautiful country where everything seems “topsy tervy”. So you decide to sneak over for a visit; however, your borders are tightly controlled so you have to go through the mountains on foot to get a glimpse of a country. You observe that people don’t compete but serve one another. They don’t keep reminding each other of their faults, but they speak about being perfectly loved, accepted, precious and wonderful. There is a sense of reverence in the air in this country instead of a sense of haste and rush and hurry. And you notice that the people that are last in your country, the handicapped, the uneducated, the minorities, the sick, the elderly are treated with unusual extra respect here. People are full of love, joy, peace, patience, goodness and kindness. People are gentle, full of faith, and don’t fly off the handle.

So you decide to become a citizen of the new country of this new kingdom but you must go back and live and work in your old country because it needs to be transformed by your very presence in it but you always remain a citizen of the new.” (Brian McLaren, Living Now in the Kingdom of God) I think it is so amazing that the Apostle Peter describes those who are a part of the Kingdom of God as aliens and foreigners. Fully alive followers of Christ know and live as citizens of a new kingdom and take that reality and transform the world around them.

Day 25 - Love, Dad.

2011-10-05T07:44:00.000-04:00

Read John 1:10-13

When we say a community turned inside out should live out the teachings of the Bible, we don’t mean that it should be somehow followed mechanically, like following the owner’s manual of a car. So many people approach the Bible this way, as a sterile, informational, owner’s manual for life. No wonder they struggle to read it, understand it and make some attempt to live it out. Personally I even find the word “Bible” to be a little cold and sterile since “Bible” simply means book. But what kind of book is it and how do I read it? Is it a science book? Is it a history book? Is it a textbook?

Well it’s some of these and none of these. Each description just comes up short. Usually people approach the Bible using only one or two of these categories. So what is the Bible and how do we look at it and live it out as a community? It is the record of God’s words. Think about it. The creator of the heavens, earth, the universe has spoken and those words are available for us to read. But more importantly, the Bible is the story of God and us. It’s about how we relate to him and he to us in community. Primarily, it is a love story of God’s desired relationship with His people and we should approach it with this understanding.

I loved my Dad and I know he really loved me, but we each have our own unique way of expressing our love for one another. My father’s heritage was Dutch. Not to be hard on the Dutchmen or anything, but the great written works, love songs and poems of our time, were not written by the Dutch. In keeping with his heritage, my dad didn’t always express himself well in words or writing; he was more of a man of action. I will never forget his simple words to me to love the Lord my God with all my heart and soul and a call to serve Him. He wrote it in the cover of a study Bible he gave to me when I was in Grade 11. I have never turned back. He also inspired us with a family verse in Nahum 1:5 where it says, "The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in Him."

The Bible was given to us for a purpose, and yes, some of that does have to do with history and passing along information and truth. However, I don’t think these are primary objectives. The way we read the word of God influences how it affects us. If we can understand that it is a love letter, written from a dad to his children, then it changes us.

Day 24 - Praxis

2011-10-04T07:54:00.000-04:00

Read John 8:31-36

A lot of churches have stated in their values that they want their community to “know the Bible.” So, this affects everything they do, especially how they teach the Bible. The assumption is that knowledge equals practice or that “orthodoxy” equals “praxis.” The prince of Grenada, an heir to the Spanish crown, was sentenced to life in solitary confinement in Madrid's ancient prison called "The Place of the Skull." The fearful, dirty, and dreary nature of the place earned it the name. Everyone knew that once you were in, you would never come out alive. The prince was given one book to read the entire time... the Bible. With only one book to read, he read it over hundreds and hundreds of times. The book became his constant companion. After thirty-three years of imprisonment, he died. When people came in to clean out his cell, they found some notes he had written using nails to mark the soft stone of the prison walls. The notations were of this sort: Psalm 118:8 is the middle verse of the Bible; Ezra 7:21 contains all the letters of the alphabet except the letter j; the ninth verse of the eighth chapter of Esther is the longest verse in the Bible, no word or name of more than six syllables can be found in the Bible. When Scot Udell originally noted these facts in an article in Psychology Today, he commented on the oddity of an individual who spent thirty-three years of his life studying what some have described as the greatest book of all time yet could only glean trivia. From all we know, the prince never made any religious or spiritual commitment to Christ, but he became an expert at Bible trivia. (Wayne Rice, Youth Specialties, ‘94)

There's a difference between knowing facts about God, Jesus Christ, and the Bible, and allowing God to change you from the inside out. Many people can grow up knowing a lot about the Bible but never let it affect or change their life. A biblical community needs to know how to live out the Word of God because it is not enough just to know the Bible. John Eldridge describes his journey this way: “I began to believe the truth, and it set me free. The doctrine I knew – kind of, but having a doctrine pass before the mind is not what the Bible means by knowing the truth. It’s only when it reaches down deep into the heart the truth begins to set us free, just as a key must penetrate a lock to turn it, or as rain fall must saturate the earth down to the roots in order for your garden to grow.” (Eldredge, John, Waking The Dead, 126).

Whenever we teach at Grace, whether in a small group or during a message, we need to ask the question, so what difference does this make for us today? How will we do life differently now that God has revealed His truth in our lives because we can’t stay the same. There is no room to rest on our laurels, we must change from the inside out.

Day 23 - The Real Jesus

2011-10-03T06:19:00.000-04:00

The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, “Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and “sinners.” Luke 7:34

So, where is the real Jesus?

Here are a few places I believe you will find Jesus and I believe it is here that will the Spirit will lead you into divine appointments and where you can trust God for supernatural faith.

I believe He is found at some great house parties.

He did get a certain reputation. So, what about Jesus, did he enjoy going to parties? I would say an absolute yes. He loved them so much that he was beginning to get a reputation among the religious folk of his day.

So, what makes a party great? There is a lot of laughter, great games, people mixing and mingling, telling stories, great food…

Why are house parties great?

It is because when we talk about a party, usually there is a very good chance that non-Christians will be there.

Jesus attended parties that were thrown by tax collectors. These guys were the worst, we know that they sold out their fellow countymen to the state so they could live in luxury.

However it was here that Jesus knew He would have an audience among people with real needs.

We were part of the first street party on Tovell Street where we live and someone took it serious enough that we had official ‘street closed’ signs from the city. We played football and volleyball, had all kinds of international foods, watermelon eating contest, the limbo, the balloon and shoe toss and we sat and talked to our neighbors till 1:30am in the morning! It was great and while our conversation didn’t get too far into the spiritual, it was a beginning.

Jesus was the most spiritually formed, spiritually deep person that ever lived. He was pure righteousness, but he was a seeker magnet. He didn’t just love people because it was his job, He truly liked being around the sinners. He sought them out and they sought Him as well, no matter how far along they were on in their spiritual journey. If you love Jesus, you will love the people He died for.

Authentic spiritual formation always leads to a burdened heart for the lost. God’s plan for the church has always been to develop us, His people, with Jesus’ love welling up.

Jesus is found among the broken.

They took him to people who were far from God all the time. He went to dinners attended by prostitutes, to lepers and pagans, to Samaria, where a respected person would never go. For those of us who have grown up in church, somehow these stories have lost their sting. We have sometimes heard these stories but forgot who these people were. We forget that the prostitutes that Jesus hanged out with really did sell their bodies for sex and lowered the moral level of the nation. His actions got him into trouble with the religious watchdogs.

Now, for most of you, it doesn’t mean that you have to go to new places, but for some of you it does. Now if you have always struggled with alcohol, I don’t think Jesus is leading you to the bar. We are already in those circles and we need to engage them. You can find a lot about the spiritual condition of people while you are watching your kids play alongside their kids.

Jesus is found with the outcasts.

He used his hand to reach out and touch the man who was filled with leprosy in Mark 1. The law was real strict about lepers. You were not to have any contact with a leper. They lived outside the city and cry ‘unclean’. If they touched someone’s house, it was supposed to be torn down because it was declared unclean. No one was to come within 10 feet of one. But what did Jesus do? He doesn’t run away. He goes to him and He could have just said, be clean But, He didn’t. He touched him and did Jesus contract leprosy? No, Jesus infected him with His life.

I am so thankful for a lady by the name of Linda Dawson who cared for a family that had aids and through her, I also had the opportunity to minister to this family. The children unfortunately also contracted it through the parents and I had to learn very early on in my ministry that life is not fair as I watched a little boy die at the age of 7 by the name of Robbie. Robbie looked like my own child and I spent time with him in the hospital. He drew pictures for me and I never would have had the opportunity if I didn’t minister to families outside of the church.

I believe another unspoken leprosy is loneliness and as I said last week, God hates lonliness. We need to create the fertile soil for relationships to grow right here! Everyone should have a great friend, a count on friend who goes to Grace!

There was a song that came out a few years ago by Downhere called, ‘The Real Jesus’

Jesus on the radio, Jesus on a late night show
Jesus in a dream, looking all serene
Jesus on a steeple, Jesus in the Gallup poll
Jesus has His very own brand of rock and roll

Watched Him on the silver screen
Bought the action figurine
But Jesus is the only name that makes you flinch

Oh, can anybody show me the real Jesus?
Oh, let Your love unveil the mystery of the real Jesus

Jesus started something new
Jesus coined a phrase or two
Jesus split the line at the turning point of time
Jesus sparked a controversy
Jesus, known for His mercy, gave a man his sight
Jesus isn't white

Jesus loves the children, holds the lambs
Jesus prays a lot
Jesus has distinguishing marks on His hands

If anybody walks behind the Good Shepherd
If anybody holds the hands that heal lepers
And if you recognize the eyes that see forever, please...

Jesus, Jesus
Oh, can anybody show me Jesus
Oh, let Your love unveil the glory, the real Jesus

Day 22 - A Contagious Community

2011-10-02T23:03:00.000-04:00

Usually when we hear the word 'contagious,' it is in a negative sense. We only need to think back to the SARS outbreak or the 'swine flu' to remember all the efforts that were taken to quarantine the sick. I remember all too vividly when our kids were sick and we had to call into the school and listen to all the symptoms that they asked our child was experiencing. The virus had to be kept under control...except for chicken pox! When I was at a parent teacher night, a friend was telling me that a number of families wanted to bring their kids over to his home because they wanted their child to get chicken pox sooner than later! So, how do we become contagious in a good way that people want we have, a faith that rubs off on others?

I believe the call to share our faith can be really daunting. It isn’t easy to find the right words to say to someone. When it comes to talking about our faith, we like to give ourselves excuses as well. I don’t feel ready to share, I don’t feel ready to act in love and if I do manage to say something, I’ll just fumble over my words.

However, my goal today is not to guilt you into ‘witnessing’ but to inspire you from the story that I was relating to yesterday about the four men who cut a hole in the roof to get their friend to Jesus.

1. People are looking for the real Jesus!

The first thing that this story in Mark 2 reminds me of is this, ‘people are looking for the real Jesus.’ They didn’t find him in a church, but they found Him in someone’s home and the place was packed out.

It is another simple observation, but one that we need to notice.

The Canadian content included Reginald Bibby, one of Canada’s leading experts on religious and social trends. He shared from his recent book, Beyond The Gods and Back: Religion’s Demise an Rise and Why It Matters.

Here in a nutshell is his most recent findings among Canadians:

50% of adults and 40% of teens are open to greater involvement with the church if they find something worthwhile to engage in.

He also said ‘people are not looking for churches – people are looking for ministry’

People are watching us closely and wondering how much different our lives look compared to theirs. More and more non-Christians are curious by a church that is slowly recapturing the heart of her mission to serve and love on others and both believers and non-believers are finding Jesus in the most unexpected places!

I'll never forget being with one of my youth on the east side of Vancouver serving hot chocolate to people on the street during a cold day during the spring break. Matt, the youth, looked at me and said, "I've never felt closer to Jesus"!

There are three ways we shouldn't approach our culture:

Blend – never works because then we really have nothing to offer, there is nothing different about us.

Hide – and try to keep ourselves free and clear...one problem, Jesus told us to be in the world, but not of the world

Overtake – try to overthrow the culture like the Zealots did and that didn't turn out to well for them and it doesn't work well today either.

Or ENGAGE it – redemptively. Look inside the heart of every soul and see the craving for meaning, for fulfillment, for destiny as Erwin McManus would challenger us.

Mark Buchanan, a pastor from Duncan, BC on Victoria Island relates the story about how he was praying and asking God for the nations when God opened his eyes and said to him, ‘what about the First Nations?’ and so now they have begun a ministry where they are able to minister to the children right on the reserves there and where they have transformed playgrounds and families at the same time.

2. Ask the Holy Spirit to give you divine appointments!

Ask the Spirit of God to lead you to the right people with the right actions for the right words at the right time.

So, let’s imagine that there are four guys here each with one corner of a stretcher lowering their buddy down through the roof.

This man had a divine appointment with Jesus! There was no question about it and something great was going to happen.

Samuel Johnson, an English author from the 1700s said

People need to be reminded more often than they need to be instructed.

Here’s the thing about sharing your faith. When God sets you up, it isn’t hard. Ephesians 2:10 for we are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God has prepared in advance for us to do.

Now the response isn’t always guaranteed to be favourable, but God will lead you through His Spirit…that is the point.

Let’s just explore a few of those divine appointments in Scripture –

Acts 16:13-15 Lydia; 16: 31-34 the jailer; Acts 10:22-27 Peter with Cornelius; Acts 18:7,8 Titius Justus after the people attending the synagogue got abusive with him -

There is a word that keeps reoccurring here in each of these encounters. It is household - oikos – a much broader meaning, it includes not just the family – parents and children but it is much broader. In the first century this household would include the people who are connected through similar economics, vocation, similar interests, circles of networks, people that you live with, play with, do business with, rub shoulders with.

Today’s buzz word is tribes. It was simple 50 years ago when there was 3, your work, your family and you neighbourhood. Now, thanks to special interest groups, there are so many sub groups that are out there, the opportunities are endless because as one speaker shared at the leadership summit,

‘everyone still wants to be in sync (community) because its deep in our DNA’

3. Ask God to give you supernatural faith to believe what He says He can do!

He is not willing that any should perish.

Look at this statement, it really is revolutionary. Jesus says, ‘when he saw their faith, your sins are forgiven’… Wait a minute…hold the phone. He said what? Wasn’t he supposed to say, ‘get up take your mat and walk?’ Isn’t that what everybody came to see…maybe not.

Often we are wrapped up in thinking the bigger miracle was that he would walk again and don’t get me wrong, that was a great miracle, but it only lasted for the rest of his life. There is a greater miracle, a greater transformation and it is the one that takes place in a person’s heart when they put their faith in Jesus.

So, what’s our part? Trust God for the supernatural faith that He can save the people you are believing Him in faith for and you shouldn’t be the only one praying for them. Share those friends with the rest of your small group, get them to pray for your friends as well because we know from this story that He is looking for ‘their faith’! Do we all have faith that God can do this?

Day 21 - Going My Way?

2011-10-01T00:16:00.000-04:00

Read Mark 2

On the scene comes these four guys bringing their friend who is paralyzed. There is part of me that wonders how did this guy who couldn’t move get four friends to begin with! Maybe he was a funny guy, an intriguing person, a great personality. It doesn’t say. Maybe it was that these guys were involved in an accident together with their friend doing some kind of crazy stunt. In light of the stunt that they would pull off shows they were not your typical group of friends. The place was a packed house and the guys’ friend was paralyzed. They could have easily given up right there, right then. This can wait, we’ll get it another day. It would have been easy to make an excuse and say, ‘we’ll try again later…’ When it comes to talking about our faith, we like to give ourselves excuses as well. I don’t feel ready to share, I don’t feel ready to act in love. However, these guys knew all about going out of your way. They knew that Jesus was the only hope, He had a ministry of healing and they knew that He gravitated towards the soul sick. They didn’t have all the answers, but they took him to the one who did. Jesus had come back to his hometown and they knew he had a huge following. This might be the closest they would ever get.

It was their friend who was paralyzed and today many people are paralyzed by fear, lonliness, anger at God and it keeps them from coming to Him. Our friends are spiritually paralyzed and what are we doing about it? The god of this age has blinded their eyes to the light of the glorious gospel.

They came up with a plan, a very unorthodox plan to get their friend to Jesus, they made an opening in the roof. Ripping open someone’s roof could call for a lawsuit, but they went for it and Jesus is incredible. Someone was asking me where is the contagious laughter in the Bible. I have to believe that Jesus had to be smiling with a laugh watching this happen as parts of the roof probably fell on him. He doesn’t focus on the hole in the roof or even the interruption in the meeting. His focus becomes crystal clear and He sees the eternal and their spiritual responsiveness. So, He responds not just to the paralyzed man, but to all of them…. He saw their faith!! Mark 2:5 May God give us that kind of contagious faith.

When it comes to bringing people to Jesus, does God see our faith?

Day 20 - The Outsider

2011-09-30T07:08:00.001-04:00

Read Matthew 27:11-66

He was a dweeb in the eyes of some.
A loner.
Strange.
Unpredictable.
He was different.
Spoke of strange things.
Weird things.
Things that no one had heard before.
His dad had a bad reputation with some.
He tried to talk about his relationship with his
father. Few of the teachers
listened. Or cared.
He belonged to a gang.
A gang that was considered dangerous.
It roamed the town, causing local authorities trouble.
He got in people's faces. He hung out with losers.
Rich kids hated him. Some said Satan was in him.
He called the teacher names. To their faces.
He lived on the streets. He called himself God.
He got violent once. He was expelled for it.

But he came back. He talked about his own death calmly.
He promised to come back from the dead.
One of his gang got him arrested.
He defended himself in court. He lost.
The state executed him. It was a horrible death.
On the third day, he kept his promise.

The Outsider by Dave Tippett

How does seeing Jesus in this light change or not change your perspective of who He is?

Day 19 - Behold I Am Doing A New Thing

2011-09-29T06:26:00.001-04:00

Read Isaiah 43:14-21

Behold, I am doing a new thing." The people of God understood that the God of Scripture is always leading His people into the future, into new experiences, new challenges, new adventures; and He scolds them and is displeased with them when they insist on looking back and holding on to the past. "I am not back there," He says. "The glory has departed from there; I am ahead of you; follow Me into the future; catch the adventure!" God wants to put a new song in our mouth and we are to sing a new song! If we have experienced new birth then He has given us a new name. He has made a new covenant because His mercies are new every morning! He has given us a new commandment to love one another. He has given us new life and we are a new creation. We have a new self because a new and living way has been opened for us.

Matthew 9:17 states No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.

Jesus did not come to patch up an old system of religion, He didn’t come to fill our lives with rules and regulations. He came to bring a new and living way to God. He didn’t want us to package our faith like all other religion within clearly defined systems. He said come to me and you will find rest for your souls, freedom from fear, death, forgiveness for sins, a clean slate, a fresh faith.

Jesus called us into a rule-free spirituality, which is very difficult for religious people to fathom. Certainly, rule-less spirituality is only a constructive way to live if love is the guiding dynamic of our lives, and the key to Jesus’ message. Simply remove rules and you are left with anarchy (1 John 3:4).

Transcend rules with love and you are beginning to live like Jesus

Bruxy Cavey in The End of Religion

What is the new thing that Jesus is doing in us?

Day 18 - Leaving 99

2011-09-28T00:43:00.000-04:00

Read Matthew 18:1-14

Rejoice with me, I have found my lost sheep! v6 The story of the lost sheep is all about pursuit and celebration! This is a beautiful picture of our Father God who actively seeks out sinners and brings them home. My question is also about those “99” who are in the fold? Are they really in the fold? The only way into the fold is through God pursuing all of us. We all need to repent and make the 180 degree turn. Ultimately it is not us that find Jesus, He finds us. The truth of the matter is that we love God because He first loved us. We have a seeking God who takes the initiative. This was a revolutionary lesson for the religious people, the rabbis, who only saw God as one who welcomes a righteous person. 1 John 4:19 tells us that we can’t be righteous apart from him. He welcomes sinners who recognize they need to be clothed in Christ’s righteousness. The Pharisees thought they were in the fold. The question we are left with here is, are we in the fold? Jesus strategy was to ‘lose’ the ‘found’ and ‘find’ the lost!

There is a huge difference between being religious and finding God. To those who really understood the extent of their spiritual sickness, He was their caring doctor. What made Jesus so attractive to the irreligious? He took the initiative, he gravitated to the soul sick. He genuinely loved the people others couldn’t stand. Unfortunately for the Pharisees they could only see contamination coming from contact with sinners. To those who took pride in their goodness, He did whatever it took to put His finger on their sin. He has no interest in us living with our the pseudo-security of human righteousness.

The second discovery is that we should never be satisfied with the status quo. There are lost sheep out there that need to be found and we must never get to the place where we are happy with the way things are. God wants to work through us. Finding the lost is a joyful experience, it is what we are all about and it is the most amazing adventure out there. We carry our friends to Jesus like the friends who cut the roof open and brought him to the Saviour in Mark 2.

The joy in heaven is not that we are all safe and protected in the fold. No, it is rejoicing over taking risks to get out there and reach out. It is a dangerous mission to go out there, out of the safety of our church walls and be a true expression of Jesus. We might get a bad rap and others may question your motives. They may even call you names as we saw happen to Jesus, but He tells us to rejoice in Matthew 5:12 because great is your reward in heaven for bearing His name with grace. The shepherd carries the sheep on his shoulders, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders.v5 We carry each other’s burdens and we bring them home to Jesus. Are there people God is calling you to bring home to Jesus? Pray for the opportunities, they will come!

Day 17 It All Starts With Love

2011-09-27T07:15:00.002-04:00

Read Mark 12:28-32;Matt. 28:19,20

Are people going to be impressed with our knowledge or the fact that there is nothing that you could ever do that will make Him love you less as we saw in this past week’s small group study. Nothing can separate us from God’s love-not life or death, not angels or spirits, not the present or the future, and not powers from above or below. Nothing in all creation can separate us from God’s love for us in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38,39 CEV.

Loving others that we will live like Jesus did and love the people that Jesus loved. We will reach out to the people that Jesus reached, the down and out, the sick, the poor, the broken and the forgotten. Nothing should separate us from those people.

The word “evangel” is simply the Greek word which means “good news,” or to share the good news of Jesus. Another common word for this is “gospel.” When a church community puts the great commission before the great commandment or in other words is not motivated by “love”, it loses its purpose of being “evangelical” or “evangelizing” in the first place.

At Grace we put effort into seeing people connected with the living God through Jesus, because we love God and we love what his kingdom is all about. We believe that the expansion of the Kingdom of God is the best thing for this world. Not only do we love Jesus, we love our neighbour, and truly believe that the best thing for our neighbour is Him! If a community is not motivated out of a sense of love but that of “Christian duty” then it begins to see people as projects, rather than objects of God’s love, that should be cared for and loved as well.

When we are motivated out of love it affects how we interact with everyone around us and we don’t see and treat people as our projects.

To reach people without a life giving relationship and bring them to a place of becoming fully devoted followers of Christ means that we have shifted our focus from just meeting the needs of those who already believe to becoming more inclusive of those who do not know Jesus and designing our ministries to be relevant and engaging to our community.

Day 16 - Friend of Sinners

2011-09-26T00:11:00.000-04:00

Read Matthew 11:1-19

What I realized is that in physical appearance, Jesus favored those who would have been kicked out of Bible college and rejected by most churches. Phillip Yancey

There’s nothing to equal the power of a changed life, and there’s nothing that will change a life like God’s forgiving love. Once this has happened to you, you can’t sit still. You have to run get all your friends. And once you experience what it can do for someone else, you’ll be beside yourself, too, just like Jesus. John Fischer

Somehow I think Jesus would go to parties. I think he would be able to drive home, remember everything on Saturday morning and have no regrets. He would have mixed it up with the pagans. The simple answer we often preach which is insulation and isolation isn’t Christ like and isn’t effective. Bill Clem, church planter, regional trainer, Sonlife

When friendship is true, unselfish, and forgiving, there is no sweeter relationship. Jesus wrote the definition of friendship by His acts of love. No person was too insignificant, too lost, too low for His kind of friendship. He cradled the forgotten child, called to the most loathsome tax collector and invited the racially impure. Tammi Rudkin

Matthew 11: 19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and "sinners." ' But wisdom is proved right by her actions."

Do you ever notice the people who were most comfortable around Jesus. It was the scum of the earth in the eyes of the religious people. Jesus hung out with all the wrong people, prostitutes, tax collectors, the party crowd. Jesus got a bad reputation, but it didn’t seem to bother him. He wore ‘friend of sinners’ as a badge of honor. Jesus lived a missional life. In a day when the religious people had worked hard to abstain from all appearance of evil, there was Jesus getting lumped in with the lot of them.

How would people outside the church describe you?

How can you live a more missional life?

Day 15 - The Irreplaceable Church!

2011-09-25T22:32:00.000-04:00

Here's the thing we need to realize church, there is no plan B. We are called to be His ambassadors, His representatives, His witnesses. It can be daunting, yes, but we need to realize two things. He has promised that we receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon us in Acts 1:8 and secondly, a witness testifies to the things He has seen and heard. So, do you have any God stories? Do you know what it means to minister under the power and the influence of the Holy Spirit?

The Holy Spirit is our guide and I was reminded this week from Jude 1:20

But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit.

What does it means to pray in the Holy Spirit?

One writer defines it this way.

The Greek word translated “pray in” can have several different meanings. It can mean “by means of,” “with the help of,” “in the sphere of,” and “in connection to.” Praying in the Spirit does not refer to the words we are saying. Rather, it refers to how we are praying. Praying in the Spirit is praying according to the Spirit’s leading. It is praying for things the Spirit leads us to pray for. Romans 8:26 tells us, “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.”

So, being under the power and the influence of the Holy Spirit is going to enable us to be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit. I really believe He will lead us to the people that He wants us to be in conversation with.

Now, just take about 10 seconds and stare at your feet and then be reminded of this verse.

Romans 10:15a;

As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

Go under the power and influence of the Spirit and allow God to use you as the unique messenger that you are.

You are irreplaceable as a member of His Church!

Day 14 - If We Are The Body

2011-09-24T00:02:00.000-04:00

Read James 2:1-9

This is truly a challenging song by Casting Crowns which really speaks to me. Read through the chorus again and answer the question of what the body of Grace should be about. Think of specific ways that we can be His arms, hands, words, feet and the way.

It's crowded in worship today
As she slips in
Trying to fade into the faces
The girls' teasing laughter is carrying farther than they know
Farther than they know

CHORUS

But if we are the Body
Why aren't His arms reaching
Why aren't His hands healing
Why aren't His words teaching
And if we are the Body
Why aren't His feet going
Why is His love not showing them there is a way
There is a way

A traveler is far away from home
He sheds his coat
And quietly sinks into the back row
The weight of their judgemental glances tells him that his chances
Are better out on the road

Jesus paid much too high a price
For us to pick and choose who should come
And we are the Body of Christ

If we are the body
Why aren’t His arms reaching
Why aren’t His hands healing
Why aren't His words teaching
And if we are the body
Why aren’t His feet going
Why is His love not showing them there is a way

Jesus is the way

Day 13 - Keeping It Together

2011-09-23T06:58:00.001-04:00

Read 1 Corinthians 12

As a church we need to really ‘keep it together’ and we do that by first accepting each other in Christ! We all have a part to play and we are all needed. It isn’t about who is more visible or who gets more attention. It is about concentrating on the importance of the body and circulating the love of Christ through all our body parts! The goal is that we serve one another in love. We can’t get caught up in the comparison game and must remember that if we are playing our God-given role, it is important. I remember one time I was working at a large camp ministry and I was also a youth pastor at that time. I wasn’t the speaker and I didn’t play a major up front role during my time there. They asked me to focus more behind the scenes with the program staff. It was humbling, but I was able to gain a whole new appreciation for those in the trenches. It also gave me opportunities to gel with some of my own ministry team on staff as well. We prayed and served together and also learned a lot of great ways to create an environment for healthy relationships to grow.

Another way we ‘keep it together’ is that we all focus on the same goal. We all need to be on the same page and that is a big reason why I feel so committed to this exercise. My heart’s desire is that we will all capture the same vision for why God has brought us together here in community. We need to see how we complement each other and how God has given us strengths to help people. We also need people in our lives to help us shore up our weaknesses and reveal our blind spots. It’s not always easy to hear, but it is so needed. Together we are really better and we can do so much more when we are all moving in the same direction.

Finally, we need to know what position we are playing. In any sport, the good player will tell you it’s a result of a total team effort, each player playing their position and complementing each other towards the desired end of reaching what God has intended for us. One strong line can’t win a game in hockey and in the church, unfortunately the load gets laid on one line so to speak too often. We need more players who aren’t just content to ride the pine (that means bench warmers!) Christianity is not a spectator sport and we all need to be involved. Have you learned to accept others for what God has gifted them to do? Do you feel that you are connected here at Grace? Why or why not? Do you know what position God has called you to play and are you playing it?

Day 12 - Clean Sweep

2011-09-22T01:39:00.000-04:00

Read Luke 10:38 -11:13

God's greatest desire is to be your dwelling place. The Lord's Prayer has been described as a floor plan for God’s House. It is our Father that wants us to. warm our heart by the fire in the living room, to nourish our spirit in the kitchen, to step into the hallway and find forgiveness. It is a house built especially for us. It is the kind of house that Mary wanted. It is the kind of house Martha wanted and yet one of them got it and the other missed it. It also models the prayer that Jesus would want us to pray

So here we have Mary and Martha as they both prepared for Jesus coming over for lunch. Listen in on a possible conversation that might have taken place today. Martha speaks, “We are going to have God in the flesh, we must clean this place up, Jesus needs to at least see the floor and we need to lay out a spread! He did say that all food can be sanctified by Him, but I think I will go with a roast beef dinner. Mary, get in here and mash the potatoes!” Mary responds, “why don’t we just order in, I just want to be in Jesus’ presence.” The more she sees Mary just sitting there on the patio as she paces back and forth from the kitchen to the BBQ, the more furious she gets until she finally snaps. Lord, don’t your care…tell Mary, here to get with the program and help me get this wonderful meal ready. The table is not set.

Jesus calmly addresses the situation. He doesn’t get angry, in fact he says, Martha, Martha. Now, anytime in Ancient Near East History when someone addresses a person’s name twice, it is a term of endearment. To worry as Jesus told Martha meant that she was wrapped up in the distractions, the ‘outside noise’ and one thing is needful.

David knew it when he said, ‘I only ask one thing from the Lord. This is what I want; let me live in the Lord’s house all my life. Psalm 27:4

Doing stuff for God is not as important as spending time with Him. Have you found the one thing?